
SEPTEMBER, 1918 


How the Shortage 
of Skilled Mechanics 
Is Being Overcome 
by Training the 
Unskilled 



SECTION ON INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 
FOR THE WAR EMERGENCY 
COMMITTEE ON LABOR 

V COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE . L dV< so-r : 










SECTION ON INDUSTRIAL TRAINING FOR THE WAR 

EMERGENCY 


National Committee 


Representing Labor : 



Frank Duffy, General Secretary, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and 
Joiners of America, Indianapolis, Ind. 

Hugh Frayne, General Organizer, American Federation of Labor, 706 
Council of National Defense Bldg., Washington, D. C. 

*J ohn Golden, President, United Textile Workers of America, 86-87 Bible 
House, New York. 

Grant Hamilton, American Federation of Labor, Washington, D. C. 

Arthur E. Holder, Member Federal Board of Vocational Education, 
Ouray Building, Washington, D. C. 

Miss Florence C. Thorne, American Federation of Labor, Wash¬ 
ington, D. C. 

Charles H. Winslow, Federal Board of Vocational Education, Wash¬ 
ington, D. C. 


Representing Employers : 

Frederick A. Geier, President, Cincinnati Milling Machine Company, Cin¬ 
cinnati, Ohio. 

Henry M. Leland, President, Lincoln Motor Company, Detroit, Mich. 

C. E. Michael, President, Virginia Bridge & Iron Company, Roanoke, Va. 
*Percy S. Straus, R. H. Macy & Co., 1317 Broadway, New York. 
fH. E. Miles, Formerly President, Wisconsin State Board of Vocational 
Education, Chairman, Com. on Industrial Education, National Asso¬ 
ciation of Manufacturers, Racine, Wis. 

C. U. Carpenter, Works Manager, Dayton Recording & Computing Machine 
Company, Dayton, Ohio. 

G. B. Duffield (Chairman, Michigan Branch Committee), Detroit Lubri¬ 
cator Company, Detroit, Mich. 


Representing Education and Welfare: 

S. W. Ashe (Chairman, New England Branch Committee), Chairman, Edu¬ 
cation and Welfare Department, General Electric Co., Pittsfield, Mass. 

John C. Frazee (Chairman, Pennsylvania Branch Committee), Member of 
State Committee of Public Safety, 704 Finance Bldg., Philadelphia, Pa. 

*C. R. Dooley, Educational Department, Westinghouse Electric & Manu¬ 
facturing Co., East Pittsburgh, Pa. 

R. O. Small, Deputy Commissioner of Education, State House, Boston, 
Mass. 

Dr. Charles McCarthy, Ph. D., Chief, Reference Library, Madison, Wis. 

Alvin E. Dodd, National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, 
140 West 42d Street, New York City. 

Training for War Industries, which was heretofore developed under the 
SECTION ON INDUSTRIAL TRAINING of the Council of National Defense, 
has been taken over by the 

TRAINING AND DILUTION SERVICE 
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 
618 17TH ST., N. W. 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 

to whom all correspondence should be addressed. 

_ •' n, of ». 

U ]9i9 

2 ••• : 


* Executive Committee, 
t Chairman. 









3 




INTENSIVE TRAINING OF UNSKILLED WORKERS AS A 
MEANS OF OVERCOMING LABOR SHORTAGE 

The Committee on Labor, Advisory Commission of the Council 
of National Defense, of which Samuel Gompers is chairman, author¬ 
izes the following from the Official Bulletin of August 14: 

The grave situation of shortage of labor (it now being estimated 
that there is a shortage of 250,000 skilled workers*) is being met 
by a new quick method of training operatives. All over the country, 
day by day, one factory after another falls into line and puts in a 
training department to train its own people—the same sort of quick, 
intensive-training plan to meet the same sort of situation which the 
regulations in France prescribe for every manufacturer employing 
300 people or more, and the English ministry of munitions requires 
in its contracts for materials. And the situation must be met in 
greater degree and substantially all factories must train their workers 
if the 750,000 new skilled workers which the country needs by 
January 1 are skilled and efficient and standing at their job by 
that time. 

PROVED BY THE FACTORIES 

To-day lOOf important factories making war orders are proving 
that it is possible to train their own men. They do not assume to 
teach a worker a whole trade in the brief time available. They do 
teach him by the methods of the training department how to master 
one process or one machine in a few weeks or a few days. These 
100 factories are spending, or preparing to spend, at the rate of 
$1,500,000 solely in this business of intensive training of new 
workers. This training investment is not an expense, as the train¬ 
ing is immediately upon production and the product from the 
training room is expected to equal that in the factory. All the 
training departments mentioned are on a production basis at all 
times, with speed and accuracy as the watchword. 


DECLARATION OF POLICY 

One year ago that section of the committee on labor of the Coun¬ 
cil of National Defense which has been instrumental in developing 
the training department or vestibule schools above noted recorded 
the following as its declaration of policy: 

“The Section on Industrial Training for the War Emergency 
is concerned with industrial training only as a war measure. It is 
not concerned with vocational education in general. In all cases in 
the existing crisis shortage of labor must he met first by training 
operatives from allied trades who are unemployed and by advanc¬ 
ing operatives of ability from lower to higher positions in the occu¬ 
pation itself. For instance, apprentices should he advanced rather 
than outsiders. It is possible that many sewing women will he 
without work, and many men in the building trades. For all such, 
new and fitting places must he developed where possible. Non-wage 
earners must not be trained to take places for which unemployed 
wage earners may reasonably be trained.” 

At the same time the section on industrial training stated the 
following to he its plan and scope: 

*Note: September 30, now estimated. 500,00.0. 
fNote: September 30, now .200. 


3 



1. Increased use of the public vocational schools through the 
co-operation of local manufacturers. This is being done very fortu¬ 
nately in Worcester, Bridgeport and some other cities. 

2. Introduce new workers, men and women, into industry 
through these schools. 

3. Arrange for the training of present mechanics and others 
in existing workrooms in connection with regular production, and by 
more scientific procedure than heretofore. 

4. As of particular importance, act as a clearing house, that 
the judgment and experience, good and bad, in each locality may 
be available to all. 

The section on industrial training, a part of the welfare division 
of the committee on labor, is composed of one-third representatives 
of labor, one-third employers and one-third experts in factory train¬ 
ing. State committees similarly organized have been developed where 
war products are being made. There are at present nine associate 
branch committees of the section on industrial training, which are 
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New England, New Jersey, New York, 
Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. 

KEEPING CHECK ON TRAINING 

The section recommends three checks on the factory training 
department, to be made daily by report: 

1. How many operatives are sent into the factory? (If this 
were the only test they might be sent in too fast and only partly 
trained.) 

2. Cost, net, after crediting production which should equal the 
shop average. 

3. Wastage.—There should be none. There should be 100 
per cent. Government inspection. 

These training departments, because of the thorough training 
given, have yielded from 10 to 40 per cent, increase in production, 
both for men and women, and the labor turnover has been reduced 
materially thereby. 

Great care has been taken to advocate that unemployed men be 
adapted and trained in new trades for the period of the war and 
that unskilled men be educated wherever possible before resorting 
to the employment of women. 

POSSIBILITIES OF DEVELOPMENT 

As an indication of the possibilities of this development, the 
experience of the State of New Jersey co-operating with this section 
may be cited. In order to overcome possible objection which labor 
might have to the introduction of emergency training a program 
was agreed on, after a series of conferences, which was heartily 
approved by all the employers and by the representatives of the 
employees. Some of the clauses of this agreement are as follows: 

“All skilled labor available within the surrounding territory 
should be brought into the essential war industries before it is 
unduly diluted by the introduction of unskilled labor. When such 
dilution is necessary, and in the opinion of the committee that time 
has already arrived, the more skilled activities should be supplied 


4 


by training those already at work and successful in handling the 
lesser skilled activities of the same general type. The lesser skilled 
activities should be supplied by training those already skilled in 
non-essential activities and not engaged at present in essential war 
industries, and who, because of such skill, are peculiarly capable of 
quickly learning the rudiments of the new activities. 

1 1 Exploitation of labor and reduction of wages through dilution 
for war purposes is to be avoided, and to this end persons brought 
into an essential industry, or promoted from one grade of work to 
another, are to be paid the prevailing rate of wages for the class 
of work for which they have been trained, after a training period 
of reasonable duration. 

‘ ‘ Dilution of labor by the employment of women when necessary 
is recommended, provided women receive wages equal to men for 
the class of work performed by them, and provided the working 
conditions surrounding their activities are carefully controlled for 
their comfort and well-being.” 

ELIMINATING HOUSING PROBLEM 

One interesting result of training resident unemployed is the 
practical elimination of the housing problem in certain instances. 

This is exemplified in the city of Detroit, where it is estimated 
that 50,000 additional mechanics will be needed before the end of the 
year. If those now engaged in the war plants could be advanced 
to more skilled positions, and their places be filled by present resi¬ 
dents of Detroit engaged in non-essential or unskilled industries, or 
those not now at work, the need for housing of the 50,000 mechanics 
with their families could be, if not entirely, at least, in part, 
eliminated. 

All who have tried these intensive methods of training are 
happily surprised at the shortness of time required to make skilled 
operatives for precision work in tool room and factory of men from 
non-essential trades and of the more intelligent women now entering 
industry for the war. 

ACTIVITIES OF THE CHAIRMAN 

To stimulate effort and arouse interest in training the idle and 
potential workers in each community, as well as to facilitate the up¬ 
grading of the old operatives, the sectional chairman has traveled 
from one manufacturing center to another for the past 12 months, 
addressing leading metal, machine-tool, and other manufacturers’ 
associations. He has also actually assisted in the establishment of 
vestibule Training Departments in the plants. 

Both single shops and great industrial communities are acting 
upon the advice of this section, which will furnish experts for 
investigation and planning upon request. 


PRATT INSTITUTE’S NATIONAL SERVICE COURSES IN 
MACHINE WORK 



As a contribution to industrial training for the war emergency, 
Pratt Institute is conducting day and evening courses in Machine 
Work, which have been especially organized to serve the present need 
for increased productive efficiency in this country’s machine shops. 
These courses are designed to aid ambitious machine shop workers 
of limited development, including machine operators, bench hands 
and machinists ’ helpers, who wish to extend and broaden their 
practical ability as a means to personal advancement in the trade, 
increased earning power and fuller service to production. Pratt 
Institute’s Machine Shop has been continuously employed to maxi¬ 
mum capacity for this instruction since the entry of the United 
States into the war. 

The Machine Work comprises six graded courses, each of which 
requires for its completion six weeks, if taken as a full-time day 
course, seven hours per day, or if taken as an evening course, twenty- 
four weeks, three evenings per week, two hours per evening. Day 
students register and pay tuition for six weeks, and evening stu¬ 
dents for twelve weeks. New classes are started at frequent inter¬ 
vals. A student may start in any course for which he is qualified, 
and may enroll for additional courses, either consecutively, or at 
some later time, if he finds it desirable to withdraw temporarily. 
Students are permitted also to transfer at any time from the day 
to the evening course or vice versa, with full credit for work 
already performed. 

The instruction is adapted to the individual. Men capable of 
following directions without excessive damage to material or equip¬ 
ment are put on productive work. Men who have not reached this 
degree of efficiency are commonly assigned exercises. About 75 
per cent, of the work is productive. Production is introduced as a 
means to greater efficiency in training. 

Courses in Wooden Boat and Shipbuilding, Marine Engineering, 
Gasoline Engine Maintenance and Operation, Machine Drawing and 
Design, Ship Drafting, Chemical Laboratory Practice, in addition 
to an extensive list of day and evening trade and technical courses, 
all of which are of special service in the war emergency, are being 
conducted. (Signed) Samuel S. Edmands. 


Pratt Institute’s Machine Shop has been employed to capacity since our entry 

into the war. 






Pratt Institute. Note the “older men.’’ 


Pratt Institute (Brooklyn) is conducting day and evening courses in machine wor 


Pratt Institute. Ambitious machine shop workers go out from here to give fuller 

service in production. 


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BOARDMAN TRADE SCHOOL 

The Boardman Apprentice Shop, under which name New 
Haven, Conn., operates a Trade School, is doing its share toward 
meeting the shortage of skilled and semi-skilled help and plans are 
being made to further this work. 

The “Shop” teaches many trades under actual trade conditions, 
but as the most pressing need is for machine workers this trade 
only will be considered in this article even to the exclusion of the 
drafting department, second in importance, and results to the 
machine department. 

Primarily this Trade School is operated to teach boys, but the 
evening continuation classes have grown in importance year by 
year until they have reached the present high standard of efficiency. 

The machine department trains fifty boys in the day course 
and under normal conditions the boy graduates after 4,800 hours 
of study, seventy-five per cent, being trade practice and twenty-five 
per cent, academic study. At present many boys leave before the 
completion of their course to enter local munition factories. These 
boys are in great demand and even after a few months of training 
ar? found extremely useful in those factories. 

The boys who complete their studies and receive their diplomas 
are largely sought for tool room work. 

Thus the school is supplying more trained hands than the num¬ 
ber of boys and length of course would indicate and that is but part 
of the story. These boys work eight hours a day, forty-four hours 
a week, fifty weeks a year, and produce real machinery practically 
all of which goes into the munition plants. 

One lot of forty-five Horizontal Tappers was built and boxed 
and ready for shipment to Glasgow for use on British munitions 
long before cargo space was available. 

The boys build two sizes of screw slotting machines, two sizes of 
horizontal tapping machines, lathes, slide rests, drill press vises and 
hundreds of small cutters. 

They have built and shipped about six hundred machines, not 
including slide rests and vises. 

The screw slotters and tapping machines are of a type in great 
demand for munition factories, being particularly serviceable for 
use on fuse parts, small arms and government hardware. 

Thus, the school, while following its basic plan, is supplying 
the country’s vital needs in training boys and at the same time 
making an essential product. 

In addition, further use of the equipment is secured by the 
operation of night continuation classes for twenty-five weeks in the 
year. The classes are operated six nights per week and Saturday 
afternoon with instructors taken from the local factories under one 
of the regular day force. 

Men in all stages of experience, ambitious apprentices, unskilled 
clerks, drivers, porters, etc., who wish to enter the local munition 
factories come to these classes. 

As an instance of extremes we may take the case of a painter 
of sixty who entered the Marlin Rockwell Corporation on machine 
work after two seasons of study; and the case of an experienced 
toolmaker taking advantage of the equipment to learn some new 
operations so as to fit himself for a higher grade of work. Both 


men made good. Machinists take the continuation course so that 
they may qualify as toolmakers. Four classes of fifty men—making 
a total of two hundred men—are taught in the night classes. 

The results have been so satisfactory that these classes will be 
continued and if the demand warrants women will be given instruc¬ 
tion upon specified evenings. The school management believes that 
the day is coming when women will receive a far greater share 
of trade instruction. 

Plans are in operation to increase the efficiency of the school 
by teaching special classes. For instance, a class in the use of 
measuring instruments and gauges would prove valuable and reduce, 
in a great measure, the time taken in training the unskilled men 
and women taking up factory work. Large numbers can be handled 
in such courses. 

The school is prepared to take crippled and disabled resident 
soldiers in any of its trade courses, night or day, when the demand 
comes. 

Since this article was prepared, orders for fifty No. 1 screw 
slotters and twelve No. 1 vertical tapping machines have been 
booked at this school. 

This order of twelve tapping machines will go directly into an 
optical factory for use on government supplies. 

Frank R. Lawrence, 

September 16, 1918. Acting Director. 



BOARDMAN APPRENTICE SCHOOL, NEW HAYEN. 

Milling the “tailstock” on a motor-driven 
vertical milling machine. A natural me¬ 
chanic (one out of every fifteen that apply 
can be classed as such), 14 years old. Has 
been an apprentice about four months. Is 
doing work usually done by boys of eighteen 
months’ experience. 



BOARDMAN APPRENTICE SCHOOL, NEW HAVEN. 

Boring is an advanced branch of the ma¬ 
chine trade, and requires great skill to suc¬ 
cessfully complete an accurate piece of work. 

A boy must complete 4,000 hours before 
he is advanced to this operation, and not 
then unless we consider him competent to 
do this accurate work. 

The “head” and “tail” of this machine 
must “line” to .001 of an inch in 18 inches, 
and therefore must be bored until all the 
“spring ” is out of the boring bar. 

This boy, age 15, is making a measurement 
with a spring caliper to ascertain proper size 
before reaming. 


9 









BOARDMAN APPRENTICE SCHOOL, NEW HAVEN. 

Scraping beds—a difficult art. Notice the 
standard Brown & Sharpe surface plate at 
the left. The surface of these beds must 
show an 85 per cent bearing, the tailstocks 
scraped to fit the same. These boys are 
about 14% years old, and have served six 
months’ apprenticeship. 



BOARDMAN APPRENTICE SCHOOL, NEW HAVEN. 

Planing “head.’ ’ It is one of the advanced 
operations and requires much care in ma¬ 
chining. The slot shown must be absolutey 
in line with the boxes, and they are tested 
with an aligning bar after planing. This 
boy is 16 years old, and will graduate in 
about two months. 


DAYTON INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE 
Dayton, Ohio 

The Dayton Industrial Institute was established to replace 
the vestibule schools in the following plants: The Dayton Engineer¬ 
ing Laboratories Co., the Domestic Engineering Co., the Dayton 
Metal Products Co., and the Dayton Wright Airplane Co. 

Although the school has been fostered by the above companies, 
any manufacturer in Dayton is at liberty to send students to the 
school under certain regulations. 

The Directors of the several companies thought it advisable to 
segregate the training school from the plants, and combine the 
school under one directing head. Most gratifying results have been 
obtained since the opening of the school January 1, 1918. 

During the past seven months over 500 persons, from all walks 
of life, have been trained for factory work. About 200 of this 
number were women. 

In addition to the large number of people trained, over 100,000 
pieces of commercial product have been manufactured, which passed 
the most rigid factory inspection. 

A large percentage of the work has been parts of war products, 
such as detonator bodies, Liberty motor ignition parts, inspection 
gauges for war materials, crank shafts, cam shafts, motor truck parts, 
etc., as well as airplane parts, consisting of ribs, fins, stabilizers, 
wheel covers, etc., for the DeHaviland fighting plane. 

Would it not be advisable for manufacturers in some com¬ 
munities, and especially for small manufacturers, to pool their in¬ 
terests in regard to industrial training, in order that the schools may 
be a peace time asset, as well as to satisfy a war time emergency? 


10 





WRIGHT-MARTIN AIRCRAFT CORPORATION 

The Wright-Martin Aircraft Corporation has two shop training 
departments, one at the Long Island City plant and the other at 
the plant in New Brunswick, N. J. Both plants are engaged in the 
manufacture of a high-grade aeroplane engine. 

Each training department occupies about 10,000 square feet of 
floor space in buildings separate from the factories. They are 
equipped with modern machinery tooled up for production, the 
machines and equipment being of the same type as that in the 
factory proper. 

The primary purpose of these departments is to train women, 
also men, for the needs of the factory, upon production work, 
assembly, inspection, shop clerk work and tool crib tending. It is 
the aim of the Instruction Department to train the learner to do 
her work habitually correct, both as to quantity and quality. With 
this in mind the training rooms are miniature factories equipped 
with lathes, automatic screw machines, hand screw machines, J. & L. 
Turret Lathes, hand millers, plain millers, sensitive drills, upright 
drills, radial drills, plain grinders, internal grinders and bench 
equipment. Jigs and fixtures and the operation tool equipment 
necessary for the production work are used on these machines, that 
those being trained may become entirely familiar with the tools 
they are required to handle when they go into the shop. The 
machines and the operation tool equipment were selected after the 
complete layout of the main operations had been carefully gone 
over and the operations that women could perform were listed. 

Considerable care has been used in selecting the learners and 
the class of women under training are of good type. A number of 
these have worked in shops before; others have been in offices. Our 
experience has been that our most successful women are those who 
have had to work for their. living, either in shops or offices, up to 
the time they entered our employ. The range of ages preferred 
varies from 21 to 35. The first few hundred women selected were 
about 35 years of age, the maturity and judgment going with such 
an age being of value in stabilizing later conditions when hundreds 
more, of a more general sort, will be employed. Many of the 
women are mothers, wives, or relatives of those at the front. 

The training is given upon actual factory production in the 
manufacture of parts that enter into the construction of the motor. 
Such manufacturing furnishes an excellent medium for instruction 
in the various branches above mentioned, and holds both the learner 
and the instructor up to the factory requirements. The standards 
of the factory are the standards of the training department both as 
to quantity and quality. Work is routed to the Instruction Depart¬ 
ment according to the regular shop forms and the finished product 
is transferred from the Instruction Department in the same manner 
as work is transferred within the factory, the Instruction Depart¬ 
ment receiving credit for what it does. 

So far, women are being trained at a rate equal to the demands 
of the factory, which is fast approaching 120 per week, this being 
the approximate weekly training capacity of the training depart- 

li 


ment. In some branches of work it takes four days to train, in 
others ten days, the length of time varying according to the time it 
takes the learner to reach the average hourly production. 

Records of production, while under training, are plotted on 
cross section paper and when the learner has reached the average 
hourly production she is declared trained in that particular line. 
In some cases women after two or three days’ training have done 
25 per cent, higher than the average hourly production stated for 
the job. Records of salvage are also kept as a check on such 
training, and every effort is made to combine a steep production 
curve and a minimum salvage curve with good training. The 
salvage records of the learners are remarkably low, some weeks 
averaging much less than 1 per cent., the highest being less than 
that in the factory itself. 

After the women have been transferred to the factory their 
progress is kept track of for at least one week, to make sure that 
they are following the instructions given in the training room. 
Those who do not make good after training are assigned back to 
the training room for further instruction, or for such disposition 
as the chief instructor may see fit. 

Regularly, during the week, the learners are given general 
lectures, talks and instructions on matters that relate to their train¬ 
ing, that they may be more generally fitted for the line of work 
into which they are to be transferred. 

The results obtained have been very interesting. The women 
are very 4 enthusiastic and the foremen are highly pleased. In one 
branch the foreman advised, when asked how things were going: 
“You can give me thirty more women right away; they are all 
right.” In another branch a foreman advised that he would not 
exchange a good share of the women in his department for an equal 
number of the best men he had on his floor. 

The instruction in each training room is given by four male 
instructors, with women assistants; the women assistants having 
been selected from the best of those who have been trained within 
the department. The men instructors are all first class mechanics, 
especially capable on production work and teaching. 

The instructors are regularly interviewed from time to time, 
and the work they are doing is carefully reviewed, with the purpose 
of building them up as efficient instructors. 

As a part of the training program at New Brunswick an 
evening school is conducted for the men in the company’s employ. 
The instruction work given consists of technical studies related 
to the mechanical trades, and includes blue-print reading, shop 
drawing, shop mathematics and clerical work in its different 
branches. This is used in conjunction with a promotion program, 
whereby men who are capable are promoted into various openings 
as they occur, requiring more skill of the same sort they already 
have. 

(Signed) James F. Johnson, 

Chief Instructor. 


12 


Being trained upon an engine lathe to accuracy of Learning to operate the radial drill presses. 

one-thousandth. Wnght-Martin Aircraft Corp. 




13 


















Training on the job in shop. Wright-Martin Aircraft Corp. 



Being trained upon a Jones & Lamson machine. Wright-Martin Aircraft Corp. 


14 

















WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS COMPANY 
New Haven, Conn. 

Manifestly, all large employers of labor mnst train their help 
to a greater or less degree. It has always been the practice of the 
Winchester Company to do a great deal of this training, but until 
the past few years it had all been done in the shops or office where 
the candidate was to work. For many years it has been the practice 
to take intelligent boys and young men in the office with the idea 
of continually promoting them to more responsible positions after 
they became competent and the positions developed where they 
might be used. Our graduate apprentices, adjusters and tool 
setters have been so well trained that they have always been sought 
for by competitive concerns. Since the war, and especially during 
the past six or eight months, it has become increasingly necessary 
to develop the training of employees to the greatest extent. Where 
formerly help might be obtained who had, at least, some knowl¬ 
edge of machines and shop practice, it is now necessary to take help 
who have absolutely no knowledge of factory work and teach them 
to become skilled. In addition, this must be done in the least pos¬ 
sible time. 

To take care of this condition, we have developed in addition 
to our regular apprentice course, a training course for administra¬ 
tive and executive positions, an Office School, a Gun Department 
Adjuster’s Shop, a Cartridge Department Training Shop and Tool 
Department Training Shop. 

The regular apprentice course is designed to give complete 
training for machinists, gauge makers, tool and fixture makers, etc. 
The course which ordinarily requires three years to complete has 
recently been shortened so that some of the boys are graduated in 
two years. It is the desire to give thorough instruction in the 
practical work mentioned above. The average enrollment is approxi¬ 
mately 90. 

The training course for administrative and executive positions 
is designed to cover briefly such shop and office practice as will give 
the broadest general knowledge that is -likely to be required of those 
in the more important positions in the administrative organization. 
This class consists of only about a dozen men who are picked with 
all possible care. 

OFFICE SCHOOL 

The Office School under competent instructors consists of a group 
of clerks who do the complete work of making up pay roll, labor 
distribution cards, etc., for a number of factory shops which were 
ehosen because of their having respective classes of work. Pros¬ 
pective clerks are taken into this school, trained on pay roll work, 
transferred to the Central Pay Roll Division as help is needed. 
In addition to this school for pay roll clerks, model shop offices are 
being established in each of the major departments where correct 
methods will be carefully taught. It is our aim to have all shop 
clerks pass through one of these model shop offices to receive their 
training, as this will insure standard methods and proper following 
of procedures. These model shop offices will also act as reservoirs 
on which to draw to supply vacancies caused by absences among 
the regular shop office staff. 


15 


GUN DEPARTMENT ADJUSTER^ SHOP 

The shop for training adjusters for the Gun Department is 
designed to teach men how to adjust the type of machines to which 
they are to be assigned for all classes of work which may he run 
upon them. This training should ordinarily take from two to j four 
weeks, but many times it has seemed desirable to graduate candidates 
more quickly than this; if they are bright and intelligent it has 
proven satisfactory to do so. No attempt has been made to train 
operators in the Gun' Department except in the shops where they 
are to work. Most of this work can be learned in a very few days 
under the instruction of a well trained adjuster. 

CARTRIDGE TRAINING SHOP 

The Cartridge Training Shop was designed to train adjusters 
and tool setters, and some operators. Due to the great number of 
new employees, it has been impossible to have all tool setters and 
adjusters pass through this school, but it is hoped that in the near 
future we may be able to train an increasing percentage of them 
here. Such men as have received this training have shown beyond 
doubt that they have been much benefited by it, and that it is most 
desirable to expand it to include as many of this class of workmen 
as possible. Some operators have been trained in the Cartridge 
Training School with excellent results, but most of the work is rela¬ 
tively simple and the training has been satisfactorily done in the 
shop to which the new employees have been assigned. 

TOOL DEPARTMENT TRAINING SHOP 

A new Tool Department Training Shop is just being started for 
the purpose of training operators on lathes, milling machines, planers, 
grinders, etc. At first we tried to train this kind of help in the 
Apprentice Shop, but because of the fact that the kind of instruc¬ 
tion was so vastly different, it has been decided impractical. In the 
one case, we wish to give very complete, broad instructions, and in 
the other, the desire is to train for one kind of work only in the 
least possible time. 

MANUFACTURING TOOL SHOPS 

We have two shops working night and day offering facilities for 
the training of unskilled people in certain lines of tool work. These 
people are taken in totally 'without experience, and placed under the 
tutelage of our best mechanics, and trained quickly as specialists. 
Within a remarkably short time they are capable of producing all 
sorts of tools used in the production of guns and ammunition, thus 
relieving the general tool shop of a great volume of work which 
would otherwise require the services of skilled tool makers. From 
the forces in these shops we are able to recruit the more advanced 
men for gauge, jig and fixture work. We consider these shops one 
of the best examples possible of training upon a productive basis. 

Aside from the regular training courses as outlined, there are 
many instructors throughout the shops whose duty it is to explain 
the best ways of doing the various tasks to which employees are 
assigned. It has been our intent throughout, in choosing instructors, 
to select those who are real teachers, having the necessary patience 
and human understanding required to successfully do work of this 
kind. 


16 


The regular source through which we train toolmakers is the 
Apprentice Shop. This shop has an enrollment of 125 hoys, who are 
trained in a three-year course to become expert all-round mechanics. 

In addition to this, two of our largest shops, of 250 men each, 
have during the past year and a half conducted special training 
courses for green men on the more elementary work of toolmaking. 
The purpose of these courses is to train men who have had no 
mechanical experience to the point where they can be used to free 
more expert men from all routine and simple work. These men 
are started on a lathe grinder or milling machine. Those men 
who show special aptitude are taught how to use two or more 
machines, while the rest are trained to operate only a single type. 
By means of our special course of instruction it is possible to train 
new men in a period of a week to four weeks, depending on the 
man and on the kind of work for which he is being trained. During 
the last year and a half over 500 men have been trained in this 
way. Recently 60 men were trained in one month. The best of 
these are advanced to more difficult work, and some of them even 
become third class toolmakers. 

In addition to this work, we have been training girls since last 
March to do machine work. These girls have hitherto been , sent 
directly to the Apprentice Shop and there given a week’s training 
on a lathe or a milling machine on repetition work. After this 
they were transferred to one of the regular shops where they have 
done extremely good work. 

In addition to the training of expert toolmakers and mechanics 
for the Tool Department, we are also training mechanics for the Gun 
and Cartridge Departments. Bach of these departments has a school 
or training department containing representative machines and in 
these schools men are given a course of instruction lasting from one 
to two months. This prepares them to go out into the shops and 
take care of a group of machines, keeping them in repair, supplied 
with proper tools, and generally in good running order. 

Third, since the above was still not sufficient to fill our require¬ 
ments, it was decided to start a regular training shop in which to 
train machinists and toolmakers, as well as gaugemakers. These men 
were to be trained in the use of three or four machines; the lathe, 
miller, planer, shaper and grinder. They were to do the more simple 
work on these machines, but still, work that was not repetition. In 
just three weeks after the plan had been accepted, the space was 
secured, and the equipment of 30 machines, tools, and everything 
which goes with a complete shop, including overhead shafting, was 
installed. Moreover, a complete set of drawings representing 40 
typical operations was made and blue-printed, and these will serve 
as a plan of instruction. On Monday morning, three weeks after the 
plan was approved, the shop, with a complete personnel of foremen 
and instructors, began operation. It is planned to turn men out m 

from three to five weeks. . _ . . , 

In all our work the emphasis is on production. Training wherever 
possible is given on actual production work. This not only makes 
possible training of a very practical nature, but also helps to lessen 
the cost of the instruction. (Signed) L. O. Pethick, 

Personnel Superintendent. 


17 


•» ‘ 





I 




18 















BROWN & SHARPE MANUFACTURING COMPANY 
Providence, R. I. 

In our own experience, without doubt, much more attention 
has been given by foremen and fellow-workmen to the supervision 
of women’s work than has been given to the average male employee 
in the past, the assumption being that a woman, having less me¬ 
chanical background and intuition than a man, required more 
training and more specific instructions. This has been the reason 
advanced by some foremen in explaining why women were doing 
better work and had “broken in” more quickly than men, and 
they have added, “If we had given the same kind of attention to 
each new man employed, he would have done just as well as the 
girl ’ ’; this is, after all, an admission on the part of the foreman 
that he had not in the past helped all he could, and an indirect 
compliment to the girl having much significance. It may be noted, 
however, that at the time when such comparisons were made the 
average man who could be secured was of an unsatisfactory and 
irresponsible class, as so few trained or competent men were avail¬ 
able for positions in the industries, while, on the other hand, in 
hiring girls a selection from a large number of applicants could 
be made, so that it was possible to obtain a much better average 
having the qualities to make successful workers. 

Experience has shown that there are advantages in having both 
men and women in the same department, as it tends to hold the 
same standard of workmanship and speed for women as for men, 
while it is believed that having a separate department for women 
may establish a separate and lower standard, the tendency being 
to make more allowance for women because of sex. The results 
seem to show that it is not at all necessary that separate standards 
should be established and that in some lines of work even more can 
be expected of women than of men because of their nimble fingers 
and quickness of motion. As to questions of discipline, where the 
two sexes are employed in the same work-room, little or no diffi¬ 
culty is experienced under capable foremanship. 

Actual results have proved that the fears in the minds of some 
that there would be opposition on the part of foremen and workmen 
to the employment of women in the shop were ungrounded. A fore¬ 
man remarked to a visitor: “See that girl working beside the 
man assembling speed indicators? She is working with him so as 
to learn all the requirements, and he knows that she is to have his 
job as soon as she has become sufficiently proficient, but he is 
helping her in every way possible. Of course, we shall find other 
work for the man; and often, with the present shortage of help, 
such a change of work can be in the line of promotion.” This illus¬ 
trates the spirit which is practically universal throughout the shop, 
and which has been an important factor in bringing about the 
success of the plan. 

While the money question—the earning power—is uppermost 
in the minds of the majority, many of the women show also a dis¬ 
tinct ambition to equal or excel men in the work they do. Soon 
after the employment of women was begun in the gear department, 


19 


a girl who was cutting sprockets on a gear-cutting machine became 
discouraged and said she was afraid she could not make a success 
of the job. Her foreman was surprised and said to her, “We have 
not made any complaint as to your work, have we?” “No,” she 
said, “but the man who worked on the night job turned out 105 
pieces, while the best I could do was only 85 pieces a day.” Her 
foreman asked if she realized that the man on the night force was 
working three hours ihore per day than she was, and after learn¬ 
ing this she felt less discouraged with the results she had obtained. 

In the gear department where a number of girls have been 
“broken in” in operating gear-cutting machines, the foreman 
said that they had taken hold as quickly as the average man, 
and some of them are doing exceptionally good and intelligent 
work. This has partly resulted from the girls being thrown as 
rapidly as possible on their own resources, being taught to set up 
their machines, working from a blueprint, to measure their work, 
and do everything that had previously been required of the operator. 
A criticism has recently been made of some of the departments to the 
effect that the foremen were giving so much supervision to the 
women’s work that they were not thrown sufficiently on their own 
resources, and thus were not trained to be responsible for the work 
in hand. This again speaks well for the women, as showing that 
there is a growing appreciation of their ability to do more advanced 
work than had at first been expected. 

In inspection work a field has been found for women in which 
they are making an exceptionally good showing. The chief inspector 
was asked whether women were learning to read the micrometer 
caliper. He replied that they learned to read it and read it accu¬ 
rately, in a very short time, and that the work passing through 
their hands showed much discrimination as to the points criticised. 
He pointed to a pile of work rejected by one of the women inspec¬ 
tors and said, “I have just had a man go over this work, and he has 
found that while the work failed to pass inspection for many rea¬ 
sons, they were all good reasons.” He said further that in inspect¬ 
ing grinding work he was surprised at the quickness with which 
some of his women inspectors would pick -out batches of work identi¬ 
fying them as coming from particular workmen whose work was 
known to be above the average. In another department, in inspecting 
measuring tools, a similar condition was noted by the foreman, and 
he stated that one of the girl inspectors recently told him that she 
liked to inspect the work of Mr. Blank, because it required so few 
rejections.. “And,” remarked the foreman, “she sized the situation 
up just right. ’ ’ He also showed the writer the notes attached to 
a number of tools which had been held out by the woman inspector 
for corrections, these criticisms showing much discrimination on her 
part, and as good a degree of judgment as would have been expected 
irom the experienced inspectors who had previously been doing the 
work. It is thus found that in the class of inspection work where 
women are employed the standard is not lowered because of their 
employment. 

Already several women are employed in the toolmaking depart¬ 
ment. One ot these employees, who was operating a lathe turning 


20 


out tool-steel blanks for bits and reamers, doing her own setting 
up and measuring, evinced enthusiasm for machine shop work, show¬ 
ing, in reply to questions, that her work was opening up a new 
field in which she took especial interest and she remarked, ‘ ‘ No 
more housework for me,” with such feeling that it was evident her 
interests strongly leaned in a mechanical direction. Girls in the 
toolmaking department are working on universal milling machines, 
surface grinders, etc., as well as lathes. Some of the younger girls 
throughout the works are employed as messengers. 

(Signed) L. D. Burlingame. 



Operating automatic gear-cutting machines. The girls are taught to set 
up their machines and make all measurements, working from a blue-print. 
Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Co. 



Girls employed on polishing machines. When they become proficient 
on polishing, they are given more advanced work at “hand-tooling,” etc., 
on these machines. Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Co. 


21 











Fluting reamers, etc., on Universal milling machines in the tool-making 
department. Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Co. 



BroCfsLrpeM^Co 8 macMneS in the Potion of duplicate parts. 


22 









' TOOLROOM ANALYSIS 

What does tool room work consist of f It can be separated into 
two divisions, namely, that which only the skilled toolmaker can do, 
such as laying out, fitting, assembling and devising special setups. 
The balance is machine work. Let us consider the latter and see 
what it consists of. 

Machines. The machines used are generally the engine lathe, the 
horizontal and vertical millers, planers, shaper, plain, flat and uni¬ 
versal grinders, drill press and filing machines. Hobbing and 
bench lathes may he added. 

The Lathe. The lathe work usually consists in machining work 
preparatory to hardening and grinding. This may be roughly 
divided into turning, chucking and faceplate work. The toolmaker 
frequently does all of this work. Let us relieve him of this work 
and use our semi-skilled man to do it for him. Let one man do the 
turning, another the chucking and another the faceplate work. 
Where buttons are used the toolmaker sets them at the bench, but 
the lathe hand can be instructed on the set-up and the use of the 
warbler and indicator. The same method can he used on the milling 
machine in boring holes for bushings, etc. If there is not enough 
turning the same man can do the boring. The whole result is the 
toolmaker can supervise, or carry through, a number of jobs at the 
same time. The lathe hand saves time because he has his tools 
ground, his straps, parallels, etc., ready at hand and he knows his 
machine. It is the writer’s experience that more time is lost by the 
toolmaker in hunting for these accessories than it frequently takes 
to do the job. 

The Shaper. On the shaper the work can be divided into 
roughing out and following an irregular line. Let us take a blanking 
die for an example. The diemaker (who works at the bench) lays 
out the die on rough stock. Then it is roughed out to this layout. 
Next the tap-holes and swivel pins are drilled, tapped and reamed. 
Now the diemaker can set his die up and lay it out more accurately 
to his turnplate. The better shaper hand now machines the pieces 
to his lines and all the diemaker has to do is file the clearance on 
the cutting edge and remove tool marks. In a sectional die he fre¬ 
quently leaves this for the grinder to do. Now the punch, which 
has been roughed out, is “sheared” and the machine hand machines 
the surplus stock from it to make it easier for the diemaker. The 
head block, shoe, knockout plate, sub-press pins, and stripper have 
been machined and are ready for him. The drill press hand does 
the drilling and reaming for the pins and springs, also the tapping. 
By this method of using the semi-skilled machine hands the skilled 
man can carry on five and more dies at the same time and not lose 
any time waiting for machines. 

The Miller. The milling machine work can be divided into flat 
work, cutting teeth in cutters, reamers, gears, etc., spiral cutting, 
boring jigs and special outline work. 

Take the first two groups. The semi-skilled operator can be 
easily trained for this work, as it does not call for more difficult 
work than the use of the dividing head, and there is always a chart 
for that. Spiral cutting can be taught, as there is a chart for that. 


23 


Cutting cams is more difficult but if there is enough of it the opera¬ 
tors can be taught to do it. 

The boring of drill jigs, and similar work, can be done by an 
operator because it is laid out beforehand by the toolmaker, or die- 
maker in case it is a die. 

The Drill Press. The drill press work presents the same solu¬ 
tion. The skilled tool or diemaker makes the layout and then drills 
the holes to the layout. Why use the skilled man’s time when a 
lower-priced, and less valued, operator can be used to drill to this 
same layout? 

Grinders. The horizontal, the plain (or flat) and the universal 
grinding machines have always had specially trained men so we need 
not consider them here. 

Special Machines. The remaining machines in the toolroom are 
generally special machines with men to operate them. The tool- 
maker uses, for the most part, only the machines considered in this 
article. 

Training. The question now arises, ‘‘Where will these men be 
trained and who will train them?” I offer this answer. Men on 
these machines throughout the factory are semi-skilled in their use 
and are mostly on repetition work. Take the best of them and 
train them in the Training Department, or in the tool room, and 
replace them by new men in the factory. 

Results. This method results in: First, enabling the skilled 
tool or diemaker to handle more work than if he had to do all the 
machine and layout work; second, increasing the output per machine, 
for it stops the time lost through the machine’s being idle and the 
tools being separated from the machine. In this matter alone it 
presents a saving, as it calls for only one set of tools per machine, 
against a set for every man in the room who keeps them in his 
bench drawer most of the time; third, it eliminates the time lost by 
the skilled man’s waiting around for a particular machine. He is 
now able to plan one job after another and turn it over to the 
machine operator and thus devote all his time to work that an 
unskilled man cannot do. 

(Signed) Walter F. Maddison, 

Director of Industrial Training. 


THE BLANCHARD MACHINE COMPANY 
64 State Street, Cambridge, Mass. 

As you know, we have been running our Training Depart¬ 
ment for about five weeks only, hence we are not in position to give 
you any definite information as "to the value of it, etc., but from 
what we can see it will be undoubtedly a great help to us, because 
all the unskilled help go to the instructor before being put into the 
shop. Those who have had some experience are put into the shop, 
with the. instructor to give them detailed information for as long a 
time as is necessary, and to teach them the important parts of the 
work in hand. This, as you can imagine, is more difficult in this 
shop where we do not manufacture large quantities than it would 
be in a shop where there was a uniform operation, such as there 
would be on shells, and work of that kind. 


24 



We have taken cabinetmakers and taught them to run boring 
mills; blank book salesmen to assemble units for our SURFACE 
GRINDERS; shoemakers to assemble units for SURFACE GRIND¬ 
ERS ; carpenters to run turret lathes, and plain helpers or sweepers 
to break in on Surface and Floor Motor Grinders. 

We also have a number of women in the shop whom we have 
taken in without their having any previous experience in machine 
work, and taught them various operations, such as broaching, bench 
work, drilling, turning bevel gears, vise work, cutting long threads, 
and work of a similar nature, and have found them very satisfactory 
on this class of work. 

We have endeavored to teach them the rudiments of this work 
before putting them on to regular production work, but after they 
master the first part of it, all the work that is done is on a regular 
production basis, and we have found in a great many cases that they 
have been able to reduce the time taken per piece to a very marked 
degree over what has formerly been taken by men. 

I send herewith eight photographs of our operatives that have 
been broken into skilled work of various kinds throughout our shop, 
that has previously been done by men skilled in the particular line 
involved. 

We think that some of these are almost remarkable, when we 
consider what our attitude was two years ago on work of this kind, 
refusing absolutely to put anyone on who had not been skilled in 
the particular line involved. 

(Signed) Winfield W. Blakeman, 

Superintendent. 



Assembly of our caliper device used in connection with our high-power 
vertical-surface grinder, for fine measurements on parts being surface ground. 

Done by “a man 63 years old, a shoemaker by trade, who has been on this 
work since June 27, 1918, and has learned in that time to completely assemble 
these delicate instruments, making the proper adjustments, lapping and doing a 
quality of work that passes a rigid inspection.” Blanchard Machine Co. 


25 



















Thread-cutting operation on a feed screw for our surface grinder, which 
is made from a forty-carbon steel, is 26% inches long and has one-quarter inch 
pitch acme thread about two-thirds of its length that must be a close fit in a 
bronze unit. 

Done by ‘‘a young lady, who has been on this class of work since May 9, 
1918, has been able to take these screws from the rough stock, turn them to 
grinding size and finally finish cutting the thread in a time that is less than was 
formerly taken by skilled machinists. We think that this is one of the most 
remarkable jobs done by the women in our shop, as this work requires very careful 
attention and unusual skill.” Blanchard Machine Co. 



Assistant Inspector. Blanchard Machine Co. 

Done by ‘‘a young girl of twenty years, who has been assistant inspector 
since April 29, 1918,^ and while she does not understand all the technical phrases 
used in connection with, work of this sort, there is a very large percentage which 
is merely routine, and if it does not pass the gages provided she refers it to 
another man to put on production work.” 


26 




















Finish turning of steel bevel gears to accurate dimensions, using compound 
slide and producing a quality of work that will pass the most critical inspection. 

Done by “a woman who had no previous experience on lathes and came to 
work in June of this year.” Blanchard Machine Co. 


Machinist. Operation of Turret Lathe. Blanchard Machine Co. 
Done by ‘‘a young man, carpenter by trade (not in 
draft), having no previous experience on machinery but by 
keeping a uniform line of work going through this machine, 
and giving him careful instructions, he is able to almost 
equal that of a skilled operator. He has been in our employ 
since January 9, 1918.” 


27 


















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28 






















THE AMERICAN SHELL COMPANY 
Paterson, N. J. 

In reference to onr method of producing toolroom outfits most 
economically and with a large output: 

This is chiefly accomplished by anticipating our machine shop 
requirements or demands far enough in advance so that the majority 
of work passing through the toolroom can be manufactured in 
quantities great enough to be produced economically, and also 
bringing the toolroom work nearer to an actual manufacturing 
basis. This also eliminates a lot of down or lost time, including the 
unnecessary losses, such as occur between jobs on work of this nature. 

It also decreases the percentage of losses due to spoiled work 
as workers become more skilled in performing one kind of work 
rather than a number of different classes of work, which is inva¬ 
riably the case in toolrooms. 

We also find this gives us the opportunity to take advantage of 
present conditions and hire a man who sometimes is inclined to 
call himself a toolmaker, although he is not an all-around man but 
is still quite suitable under our conditions of working. 

We find, too, that on quantity production in toolroom, we are in 
a position to effect some very great savings in time and money, as 
it permits standard jigs and fixtures, such as in ordinary manu¬ 
facturing; for instance, we at one time machined all our flat tool 
bits made of high speed steel before hardening and grinding, while 
our present method is to heat bars of steel in gas furnace and 
then punch out with die under heavy hammer or press. This 
method alone in a couple of hours gives us a supply ahead that 
would ordinarily take one machine or more in continuous operation 
to produce. 


The classes of work in toolroom are also segregated as much 
as possible; we have one gang for machine repair and reconstruction 
only. Another gang does all the roughing work on tools and gauges 
so that the finishing work only on gauges is done by the gauge- 
makers who are also practically a separate gang. The grinding of 
tools is under one skilled mechanic who is a working gang boss and 
leader of men trained to do this work only. 


Our tool supply is never permitted to get below the fixed 
minimum quantity, and record of this condition is always before the 
toolroom foreman and maintained by his clerk. His clerk is advised 
hourly on this through the disbursements which he receives from 
various shop cribs. 


We also make a daily record of these same disbursements as 
against operations and production, thereby keeping in close touch 
with this situation, obviating any unnecessary tool wastage which 
very quickly may become extremely expensive, and which also may 
cause dangerous delays in production in shop due to shortages in 
tool supply. 

(Signed) George de Laval, 
Vice-President and General Manager. 


29 


WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC AND MANUFACTURING CO. 

East Pittsburgh, Pa. 

Until recently we have confined our training, as such, very 
largely to trades apprentices. We have a four-year course for 
these as mechanics, electricians and patternmakers. 

Until recently it has been our plan to train new employees in 
the section to which they were assigned, upon the machines and 
work with which they were to be regularly connected. The various 
shop departments have instructors picked from the best workmen 
to demonstrate machines and their operation, when necessary. 

What has already been said applies to both men and women, 
and up to the present time we have done nothing more than this in 
the way of training men employees. 

Recently we have inaugurated a training course for women 
machine operators and a department has been equipped wherein 
these women are instructed in the operation of machine tools, such as 
lathes, drill press, screw machines, grinders and milling machines. 
This department is also to train women who are to work on mechani¬ 
cal fitting. 

In addition to this we have a training school for instructing 
women employees in electrical work, such as winding, taping, solder¬ 
ing, connecting and insulating. 

These schools are primarily for beginners and it is the plan to 
obtain women for these training sections through our centralized 
Employment Department. Then, when any manufacturing depart¬ 
ment wishes help, it will obtain it from the training section. 

The instructor from these training sections is a high-grade man 
assisted by women, and these instructors are carefully selected 
from our own best employees. 

The length of the training period runs from two to three davs 
up to three to four weeks, depending upon the difficulty of the 
occupation and the adaptability of the woman being trained. 

We have also recently inaugurated a training school for women 
clerks and we have had for some time a training school for stenogra¬ 
phers, typists, tracers and dictaphone operators. 

We believe that preliminary training is very desirable for both 
men and women and that if equipment and space are allowable 
special training departments should be established wherever the 
nature of the work will permit it. 

(Signed) Robt. L. Wilson, 

Assistant General Superintendent. 

NORTON GRINDING COMPANY 

Below is a list of men from the Norton Co., Worcester taking a 
summer course in the Worcester Trade School to qualify in an eight 
weeks’ course as all round machine hands. Five other factories are 
sending similar groups of employees. Their wages will soon be from 
30 per cent, to 100 per cent, more than ever before, which indicates 
in a measure their increased service in the war emergency. 

Could anything indicate better than this group in training for 
all round machine hands, and the statement of their previous 
experience which follows, the necessity of bringing men like them 
into our factories, first giving them an intensive training which 
develops their latent abilities? 


30 



Name 

Age 

Previous education 

Previous occupation 

Former wage 

A. 

B. 

24 

Grammar School 

Carpenter 

Not stated 

E. 

R. 

32 

Grammar School 

Laborer 

$18 per week 

C. 

M. 

30 

High School, 1 year 

Musician, 9 years 

$22 or $20 week 

C. 

J. 

24 

Grammar School 

Elastic Dept. 

35 ^c per hour and 
piece work 

0 . 

L. 

18 

Trade School, 4 years 

Student 


I. 

K. 

24 

High School, iy 2 years 

Scraper hand 

45c per hour 

c. 

D. 

20 

High School, 3 years 

Grocery clerk 

$2.75 per day 

T. 

J. 

44 

Grammar School 

Painter 

34c per hour 

A. 

S. 

27 

High School, 4 years 

Adjusting glasses in op¬ 
tician’s office 

5 yrs. at $18 week 

9 mos. at $25 week 

D. 

S. 

20 

High School, 1 year 

Assembling, machine 
shop 

34c per hour 

M. 

Q’B. 

42 

Grammar School 

Brushmaker for 33 yrs. 

$4 per day 

C. 

K. 

32 

High School, 2 years 

Assembling, machine 
shop 

35c per hour 

0 . 

Gr. 

19 

Not given 

Grading 

35c per hour 

s. 

G. 

31 

Norwich Univ. graduate 

Civil engineer, in busi¬ 
ness for himself 


M. 

W. 

17 

High School, 1 year 
Trade School, 1 year 

Turret lathe operator, 2 
years 

27 %c per hour 

J. 

S. 

21 

Primary School 

Moulder, 1 year 

$3.50 per day 

L. 

B. 

20 

High School, did not 
graduate 

Grocery clerk 

Not stated 

M. 

H. , 

18 

High School 

Student 

- 

M. 

T. 

33 

Primary School 


35c per hour 

A. 

S. 

38 

Grammar School 

Scene shifter in Poli’s 
Theater 

$21 per week 

I. 

G. 

19 

Grammar School, 2 years 

Student 


H. 

M. 

20 

Not given 

Carrying boxes, Logan, 
Swift & Brigham 

30c per hour 



Vertical Milling—two weeks in 
school. Previous experience, plumber 
and punch press operator. Norton. 



Sharpening Milling Cutter on Norton 
Tool Grinder—seven weeks in school. 
Previous experience, two years boiler 
factory and teamster, Norton. 


31 











MACHINISTS’ CLASS, NORTON COMPANIES, AT WORCESTER TRADE SCHOOL, 

SUMMER OF 1918. 



MACHINISTS’ CLASS. NORTON COMPANIES, AT WORCESTER TRADE SCHOOL, 

SUMMER OF 1918. 

Taking an. eight-weeks’ course of intensive training fitting them to 
take places in a general machine shop. This course carries them much 
farther than machine operators. 


32 






























FEMALE EMPLOYEES AT NORTON COMPANY, WORCESTER, MASS., 
JULY, 1918, IN KHAKI UNIFORM. 



Grinding on Brown & Sharpe universal machine; 5 weeks in schoof; previous experi¬ 
ence, designer in corset shop (Norton). 


33 



















Operating Warner & Swasey turret lathe; no previous experience in machine «hnrv 
8 weeks in school and now earns 45 cents per hoSr pfw (Norton). P ' 



Learning bench work; one of thesemen in ; previous to oonring here owned 


34 


























DETROIT STEEL PRODUCTS CO. 

Detroit, Michigan 

Some time ago it became necessary to increase the number of 
skilled mechanics in the steel spring business and a company in 
Detroit segregated a group of handymen under a skilled mechanic 
to see if they could acquire the necessary skill in a period less than 
three years which was then the admitted necessary time for com¬ 
plete apprenticeship. The plan had the assistance of a man trained 
in teaching methods but without large knowledge of the special 
business in hand. After four weeks’ training an operator was 
put on production work who equalled the average mechanic in this 
line of work and who in three months was leading the production 
of the shop. This initial success led to the establishment of school¬ 
ing as the proper method of securing skilled help in this factory. 

The elements most desirable in industrial training are: 

1. Separation of the training department from production so 
as to avoid interference with production and also interference with 
the operators in training. 

2. Supplying a full knowledge of the special business or trade 
through an instructor fully trained. 

3. Supplying a full knowledge of teaching methods through 
an instructor who can act as a vehicle for the transfer of trade 
information in simple language to the new operators. 

4. Application of the students’ time to learning one simple 
operation, preferably on a subdivided operation. 

5. Application of the student’s time to learning the free oper¬ 
ation of the tool together with opportunity to try its operation on 
some personally chosen work. 

6. Satisfactory high scale of wage, but one which can be 
exceeded in actual production. 

7. Encouragement to the operators and then more encourage¬ 
ment. 

8. Selection of suitable operators. 

Of all these the ones most overlooked are numbers 1, 3 and 6. 

Many managers think that good instruction can be given right 
in the producing departments, whereas this has been proven to be a 
great interference with both production and schooling. 

Most attempts to use skilled mechanics as instructors has failed 
because they lacked the ability to properly convey to others the 
knowledge they possessed. The assistance of a trained teacher has 
made the work of many mechanical instructors a real success. 

The opinion that the company is doing, a disinterested thing in 
training new operators has led some to believe that the wage scale 
for learners could be made very low. One way to help a man to 
act like a gentleman is to dress him as such and treat him as far 
as possible as such. The same holds true with operators in training^ 
The fact that they are rated well and trained by the best of 
mechanics, on the best of tools, in a shop with good surroundings, 
means much in the final success of industrial training. 

(Signed) R. S. Drummond, 
Formerly Vice-President and General Manager. 


35 


SCOVILL MANUFACTURING CO. 

Waterbury, Conn. 

The training room of the Scovill Manufacturing Company 
started April 1, 1918. 

We train beginners on hand screw machines and engine lathes on 
plain turning. The training for experienced workers is to teach 
toolsetters with some experience to be experts along special lines 
and otherwise developed in their work. Also workmen with some 
general experience in machine room work are taught to run engine 
lathes. Further developments in general machine room work is to 
be taken up later. 

Our best instructors are picked from those engaged in actual 
production or from promising pupils in the training school. 

Skill, patience and teaching ability are the requirements of 
the teachers. 

The best trainees are those recruited from other lines of work 
in the factory, especially at this time, and those impelled with the 
real sense of duty. Requirements: Average strength, intelligence 
and a desire to learn. 

The steady type is preferable to the more brilliant operator 
who lacks staying qualities. The operators are trained in the class 
of work they are expected to follow, and this training is valued in 
proportion as it increases production from the first in the produc¬ 
tion rooms, and enables the operator to face actual working con¬ 
ditions without hesitancy and without fear of handling the machines. 

The total cost of installation for our school to date has been 
approximately $2,000. With us, the cost of training (being the 
amount paid operatives above their earnings while in the training 
room) is approximately as follows: 

Engine lathe workers $34 average. 

Toolsetters $25 average. 

Female screw machine operators $10 average. 

The average number of female operators in the school is nine 
and their average length of time for training is eight days. 

The male operators, both engine lathe workers and toolsetters, 
require from three to six weeks’ training before they are sent out 
to the production rooms. 

For tool room purposes we have not taken up the training of 
women and have only taken up the training of men along the lines 
of simple punch turning and straight work. We find that the men 
we instruct in this line of work are very interested and stick closer 
to the job than the average apprentice in the tool room. 

(Signed) Wm. Colina. 


THE RECORDING & COMPUTING MACHINES CO. 

Dayton, Ohio 

Several years ago we had over 200 toolmakers in our tool room 
engaged upon high grade jigs, fixtures, gauges, etc. The demand for 
toolmakers became such that the men were leaving us and it became 
practically impossible to get an adequate supply of this highly 
skilled labor. 

My engineers, superintendents and myself made a study of the 
proposition and found that on the work that the tool room was 


36 



doing it was unnecessary to employ such highly skilled labor on 
70 per cent, of the work on the average. We, therefore, differentiated 
the work into its component elements and made a careful line of 
cleavage between the highly skilled work which the toolmakers were 
doing and the work which could be done by ordinary machinists. 
We then brought in men who were machinists, separating them into 
several necessary grades. We had sufficient work of a minor char¬ 
acter to keep the lower grades busy practically all the time. We, 
therefore, taught them just how we wanted the work done. 

As a result of this differentiation of the elements going to make 
up tool room work and the shaping of a distinct line of cleavage 
between the work requiring high skill and that requiring skill of a 
lesser grade, we were able to reduce our toolmaking force to less 
than fifty. 

I am sure that a close study of the work done in any tool 
room and a division of the work same as along the lines indicated 
above will result in a decrease of the number of toolmakers required. 

August 7, 1918. (Signed) C. U. Carpenter. 


OHMER FARE REGISTER COMPANY 
Dayton, Ohio 

The training department occupies a space of 25x60 feet and has 
the following equipment installed as a beginning: 

1 13-inch lathe. 

1 20-inch lathe. 

1 36-inch lathe. 

1 No. 5 Cincinnati Milling Machine. 

1 No. 24 Osterlein Milling Machine. 

1 No. 5 Brown & Sharpe Vertical Milling Machine. 

1 24-inch Shaper. 

1 Bathe Universal Grinder. 

1 4-foot Cincinnati Bickford Radial Drill. 

1 20-inch Barnes Drill. 

1 Brown & Sharpe Hand Screw Machine. 

1 14-inch Wet Tool Grinder. 

About 30 feet of benches with vises, etc. 

At one end of the space they have an office and class room, 
15x20 feet. In it they have chairs, blackboard, drawing board, etc. 
It is their practice to assemble all of the students in the class room 
for a few minutes each day and give them short talks about the 
work and the fundamentals of the business. These talks are made 
as pithy as possible and only one main fact is presented at a time. 

They are taking in green help, either from the laborers in the 
shop or hired from outside, both men and women, and are training 
them for machine operators and bench hands. Their conditions 
are such that they cannot do as many concerns do, train for a 
single operation, as they must make all-around operators. 

Their method is such that if the foreman of the lathe depart¬ 
ment is in need of a man he makes out a ‘ ‘ request for help form 
and has it sent to the school where his needs are supplied if possible; 
the “request for help” is then sent to the Employment Agent 


37 



stating that the request has been filled and the Employment Agent 
fills the vacancy in the school. 

In teaching the names of parts of the various machines, they 
are going to give each student a picture of the particular machine 
he is to work on; these pictures are numbered and on a separate 
sheet are the names of the corresponding parts. This is done so that 
they can be examined in the names of parts and not have the name 
in front of them to refer to. 

Only regular factory production which must pass inspection is 
used for instruction. 

In regard to instructors, they have taken a man from the tool 
room who is a mechanic and a good teacher. He can handle any 
and all of the machines and has the ability to tell what he knows 
in a clear way that is readily understood. 

Most of the students in the training room at present have been 
hired from outside but as it is becoming better known among the 
men, the laborers are applying for admission in rapidly increasing 
numbers. They have several traveling salesmen, office men and a 
few who have taken their degree. These latter are not very satis¬ 
factory, however—they are not nearly so amenable to instruction as 
are men who have been brought up to work. 

Their training period will probably extend from four or five 
days to as many weeks, depending on the adaptability of the stu¬ 
dent and the difficulty of the machine for which they are being 
trained. 

Women have not yet been introduced on the heavier machines 
but it is intended to do so within the near future. 

COURSE FOR LATHE OPERATOR 

Names of parts of machine. 

Names of cutting tools and their uses. 

How to set tool properly and why. 

Measuring instruments, uses and how to read. 

Reading blue-prints. 

Tools used about and in conjunction with lathe. 

Files and filing. 

Starting and stopping machine. 

Changing spindle speed, back gear, etc. 

Starting and stopping various feeds. 

Changing feeds. 

Centering round shafting. 

Plain turning operations. 

Face plate work, how set and centered. 

Grinding cutting tools, clearance, rake, etc., and reasons therefor. 

Cutting, speeds and feed for various metals. 

Lubricants and coolants, use and benefits. 

Care and upkeep of machine. 

Kinks and pointers. (Signed) B. M. Pierce, 

Supervisor of School. 

BURROUGHS ADDING MACHINE COMPANY 
Detroit, Mich. 

The Burroughs Adding Machine Company established in 1907 
an apprentice school (course four years) which from its inception 

38 



has proved an unqualified success. Our apprentices have also 
attended classes in the Cass Technical High School in Detroit. In 
the year 1916 we instituted a course along similar lines to our 
apprentice course for our service men. 

However, the general shortage of skilled male help, the loss of 
over 800 men through the draft, and the rapid expansion of our 
business has obliged us to supplement our force with a considerable 
amount of female help in order that the increased demand for our 
labor-saving product be met. 

Early in the present year, therefore, we established a school 
for unskilled female labor in connection with one of our depart¬ 
ments engaged in the simpler operations. As the young women 
pass through the Employment Department they are placed in this 
Training School under the supervision of a competent instructor 
and are thoroughly grounded in the operation performed in that 
particular department. While in this school their characteristics 
are studied and as they acquire proficiency and their ability 
develops, they are assigned to more intricate and important work 
in the other departments throughout the factory. The selection 
for these assignments is determined by their physical condition and 
their mechanical development and aptitude. The instructor explains 
thoroughly the nature of the new employment, points out the ad¬ 
vantages accruing to the employees because of their increased 
earning capacities; introduces them into the new department, points 
out in detail the various operations conducted therein, and pains¬ 
takingly explains the scope of their new duties. 

The following day they are started at their new operation, and 
by frequent observation, instruction and encouragements improve 
to a degree where they become expert in the one operation. 

In this manner girls are gradually developed from the simpler 
burring and filing operations until we now employ them in depart¬ 
ments performing such varied operations as indicated below. 

Spring-winding, riveting machines, drill-press and milling ma¬ 
chines, straightening of parts, assembling of special features, assem¬ 
bling and fitting type, the erection of machines, adjusting and 
inspecting machines, assembling and adjusting motors, punch press 
and hand and automatic screw machine work. 

As the girls graduate from the starting department, or school, 
they don the regular shop uniform, consisting of a suit of overalls, 
and take their place alongside the men and under the same general 
conditions as to hours of labor and rates of pay. This stepping-up 
method of training the unskilled females has been a success with 
us as far as it goes, and has enabled us to increase our production 
50 per cent, for the current year in spite of the acute shilled labor 
situation. 

From April 1, when the training school was established, up to 
the present time, 412 young women have been received in Depart 
ment 35, and 260 have been trained and transferred to other 
departments. At all times there are about forty or fifty young 
women undergoing training. Only nine young women have been 
returned to Department 35 for further training since April 1. After 
receiving additional training these nine were again placed and in 
no case has one failed for the second time. It is just a matter- of 
finding the right place for the right young women, and then there 


39 


is no question about them making good on the jobs, as they are 
proving every day. 

In conclusion, tribute must be paid to the 1,200 women in 
our factory whose earnest desire to help their country in its time 
of need, and whose mentality and courage have enabled them to 
make a success of a kind of employment entirely foreign to them 
on the general conception of their abilities. 

(Signed) Wm. Earl Leever, 

Assistant to General Manager. 

UNDERWOOD TYPEWRITER CO., INC. 

Hartford, Conn. 

The Underwood Typewriter Co., Hartford, Conn., has under¬ 
taken the employment of women on a part-time basis, such as will 
permit them to attend to their household cares to a reasonable 
extent. Further, they are offering employment to women having 
small children between two and one-half and nine years of age, 
having given over a space in their plant for the care of such chil¬ 
dren throughout the work day, practicing the kindergarten plan. 
They have found many who are willing to engage with them under 
this plan, and are pleased to report the whole general scheme is 
working out well. Many of the women of either class have become 
expert in skilled work with but a limited time for training. Under 
their method, however, the instructing is done in each of the manu¬ 
facturing departments where the plan has been introduced, as they 
have operated under good regulations as to quality and quantity 
for many years back, rendering it very practicable in their case to 
not instruct and train in separate spaces, although they appreciate 
the need for acting otherwise with new work, such as has been 
brought about by the war, and wherein the tasks at hand are not 
subject to accurate measurement to start with. 

(Signed) C. D. Rice, 

Manager of Factory. 

Photos are herewith shown which illustrate the mothers on 
part-time work in the factory while the children attend the kinder¬ 
garten in the plant under expert instruction. 


The experience of the Underwood Company indicates conclu¬ 
sively that advanced age is no barrier to productive value. 



Part-time workers assembling typewriters. Their children are cared for meantime 
in the company’s kindergarten — Underwood Typewriter Co. 


40 








War-time kindergarten. Underwood Typewriter Co. 


THE NATIONAL CASH REGISTER COMPANY 
Dayton, Ohio 

The Training School for women, of whom over eight hundred 
have been placed in the various departments, was started in the 
latter part of March, 1918. 

Because of the demand for trained help in the factory, we have 
not been able to keep them in the Training School as long as we 
would wish, but even this short experience has been sufficient to take 
away the fear of the shop, as many of our women have never had 
any factory experience before. 

While in the Training School the students are paid the regular 
starting rate for women, and after they enter the factory and become 
more efficient their rate increases until they can do the work that a 
man previously did both as regards quality and quantity and they 
receive a man’s wage. 

In some departments it has been found necessary to put slightly 
more women on the same operations than men formerly employed 
to obtain the same production, but as the women gain experience, 
their production increases rapidly and the quality is as good, if not 
better. The women have proven themselves very apt in picking up 
the smaller class of assembling on account of their nimble fingers 
and care in handling stock. 

We use our regular production to train the students, and as it 
must pass 100 per cent, inspection, we emphasize quality and not 
quantity. 

We find the best class of workers comes from those between 
twenty-one and forty years of age, with, of course, exceptions. 

We not only teach the new employees the mechanical operations, 
but also give them “Health and Safety” lectures, and show them 
pictures of many ways one can become injured if they do not use 
precaution while working around machinery. They are also in¬ 
structed in the use of time and instruction tickets. 

Our Inspectors are selected from the factory, preference being 
given to those who are experts on their particular class of work. 

It is our opinion that the Training School is the proper way to 
teach the inexperienced help in order that they may learn the work 
quickly and get on a production basis in a short time instead of 

41 







hiring and placing help right in the shop and letting them pick it up 
with what assistance and instruction they can from their fellow 
workmen. 

In the Training School the most efficient workers can be re¬ 
organized in a short time, and the less efficient ones can be given 
special attention, and usually we can bring them to a degree of 
efficiency not possible under the old method. 

We try to find out in the training school where the student’s 
strong point is, whether on machine operation or bench work, and 
are enabled in this way to place them in a job they are particularly 
suited for, thus keeping the problem out of the factory. If they 
show a proper degree of interest, they are given all possible encour¬ 
agement. 

We have had to materially increase the size of our school, and 
with the hearty co-operation we are receiving from the heads of the 
different departments, we believe the employment of women on our 
work is proving a success in every way. 

Another point that we think is good is that the school itself is 
nearly self-sustaining. 

The accompanying photo, number one, will give an idea of the 
size of our school, and also the various classes of work we train 
them on. 

Number two shows a gang of hand mills “manned” by women. 
These girls have all been through our Training School and are now 
working on a piece basis and doing it successfully. 

(Signed) Wm. A. Hartman. 


No. 1. National Cash Register Co. A section of the training room. 


"o- National Cash, Register Co. A gang of hand mills operated by 

42 


women. 





PACKARD MOTOR CAR COMPANY 
Detroit, Mich. 

In the spring of 1914 labor conditions were somewhat dis¬ 
turbed in Detroit. We lost a good many of onr expert varnish 
rubbers, and we could not get skilled men to replace them, and we 
tried to break in men on the varnish rubbing deck, but found that 
too much work was spoiled by the green men, and the experienced 
men did not have time or inclination to properly instruct those who 
were unskilled. This led to the establishment of a school for train¬ 
ing varnish rubbers and was the beginning of our efforts to train 
unskilled workers. The result of this experience was so highly suc¬ 
cessful that we carried it to all of the other branches of body manu¬ 
facture, and a school for training unskilled help became a permanent 
part of our institution. 

We were able to teach women how to trim automobile bodies, 
and they learned in an average of less than ninety days. Their 
work was of a very high order, and we were very much gratified 
with what they accomplished. Very often we found that we were 
able to train men to an exceedingly high degree of skill in less 
than sixty days. All men were not so apt. Some of them could 
not be placed in the skilled class even after three months of training. 

As the war activities took workers we turned our school into 
training quarters for mechanics. For instructors we aim to use the 
best workers in a particular class that we have, providing that they 
have the natural ability to instruct others. Some men lack the 
ability to impart their knowledge to others. This type of man does 
not make a good instructor. A man should not only be an expert in 
his trade, but he should have the natural ability to impart his knowl¬ 
edge in order to become a good instructor. 

In teaching some of the women we find that some women pick 
up very quickly some particular trade and when they become 
experts we in turn make them instructors. We have not yet de¬ 
veloped any toolmakers. We have developed men to tool room work, 
such as turning, grinding, etc., but this is not really toolmaking. 

We believe that it is possible to turn out good toolmakers and 
we are turning our energies to this end. 

(Signed) F. F. Beall, 
Vice-President of Manufacturing. 


NORTH AMERICAN MOTORS CO. 

Pottstown, Pa. 

Our production is about half of what it should be, due to lack 
of skilled help, in other words, due to lack of machinists. We have 
not had much trouble in getting green men and we have had no 
trouble in training these green men to do the operations on the 
shell both accurately and quickly, but we have had trouble in getting 
men to maintain the tools or to equip for these operators. 

Facing this condition and being unable to obtain machinists, we 
decided to train men to do machinists’ and toolmakers’ work. 

Our scheme as outlined is as follows: We are taking operators 
who have had experience of a year or more in our shop and are 
putting them into the school under a good mechanic who fortunately 
is a teacher also. After a few weeks in the school we are putting 


43 



them into the tool room as operators, that is, they will be on work 
where they will get work of a repeating nature and they will stay on 
the same class of work for a considerable period of time, depending 
on the man and how fast our other pupils come on, the idea being 
then to take the first man back again to the school and teach him to 
operate some other machine tool, then send him back in the tool 
room, where, after he has operated on the second type of tool for a 
certain length of time, he would then be of more use, as the tool 
room foreman could then place him on either one of two machines. 
For the more attentive and interested men we would continue this 
scheme and thus teach them the operations of all machines and tools 
used in the tool room. We have also provided for a certain line of 
bench training. 

Within the next few weeks we hope to be able to take some of 
our machine tools from the shell shop and put them into this school 
and we will then train our operators in this school with the idea in 
mind, as stated in our previous letter, of teaching them the proper 
care of a machine tool, as we consider this of vital importance. In 
fact, the writer would say that from observation in other plants and 
experience here that it is his opinion that one of the greatest, if not 
the greatest, causes for lack of production in machine shops now on 
shell work is due to machine breakage, this coming from several 
causes, among the foremost being the lack of knowledge on the. 
operators’ part. 

When the idea of the school was first brought up there was 
some feeling among the skilled mechanics that the men trained in 
the school would replace them to the detriment of the mechanic, but 
this idea has passed or is passing away very rapidly and we find a 
considerable interest shown by the mechanics in the things that we 
are teaching. Two of our good machinists who are on maintenance 
or repair work have asked to be allowed to go to the school so that 
they may become better workers and get a training on finer work. 
Others have shown similar interest and we have tentatively agreed 
to start an evening school this fall for mechanics, our proposal being 
to work in conjunction with the Y. M. C. A. for shop drawing and 
the reading of drawings and to use our own shop for special in¬ 
struction on machine tools. /cr ^ ^ T 

(Signed) George C. Lees, 

Secretary and Works Manager. 


THE H. E. HARRIS ENGINEERING CO. 

Bridgeport, Conn. 

We are enclosing herewith three photographs showing work 
in our vestibule school for women on gauge finishing work. The 
picture of the six women in a line with the instructor at the end 
shows the pupils on gauge finishing work, lapping plug, thread 
gauges, snap gauges, etc. These women have proven themselves 
very apt, but difficulty is being experienced, due to the fact that 
the necessary laps requiring highly skilled mechanics are often 
made defective, on account of the feeling of the skilled tool and 
gauge makers who do not wish any of the women to do any of 
this work. 


44 



The women show a better spirit and give a much better pro¬ 
duction, at least three times as much as the men do on the same 
work. The one photograph showing the six women in a roAv and 
the instructor at the far end, shows a group in the school lapping 
these gauges. 



Group in training room lapping gauges. H. E. Harris Engineering Co. 


The two photographs of the same woman, Mrs. H- 


, show 

her in one photograph lapping a thread gauge which has to be 
correct within .0002. ' She is about four times as proficient as 
any man that we have in the place. The other photograph shows 
her measuring the same thread gauge between the lapping opera¬ 
tion with the three-wire system, which is rather a difficult feat 
of measurement. (Signed) Harry E. Harris, 

President. 



Lapping a thread within .0002 inch. 
H. E. Harris Engineering Co. 



Measuring thread gauge with three 
wire system—a difficult feat. H. E. 
Harris Engineering Co. 


45 











OAKLEY MACHINE TOOL COMPANY 
Cincinnati, Ohio 

Onr shop has an average of 75 men on its pay roll, making a 
Precision Tool Room Grinder. Before the United States joined the 
forces of Liberty we had felt a shortage of labor and had taken 
steps to break in untrained men. 

Thinking we were not large enough to inaugurate a Vestibule 
Training Room, as it is generally understood, we inaugurated a 
system of training men directly in our shop. 

We sorted out applicants and put them in our shop, two at a 
time; if they had never worked in a shop before we started them 
on simple machines, such as the hack saw, centering machine, etc., 
in order that they might get used to the noise and methods of the 
machine shop. They were then advanced to Roughing Lathes, being 
given simple jobs, such as turning and facing. 

By having only two at a time the foreman was able to give 
•them personal supervision, without interfering with his regular work. 
As they developed they were given more difficult jobs. We found, 
as a rule, inside of sixty days such men made very fair machine 
hands. 

We also broke men in on drill presses and shapers, using same 
tactics and had very successful results. To give you an idea as to 
the class of men from which we have made machine operators, we 
have working in our shop to-day one bartender, piano tuner, street 
car conductor, bricklayer, coal miner and an artist—self made. The 
other unskilled men had had some previous experience on productive 
labor, either running punching presses, nailing machines, or work 
requiring a smattering of mechanical ability. 

Our experience is that if you take a man over 30 that has 
become disgusted from a blind alley profession, where there is no 
hope of advancement, point out the possibilities of the machine tool 
trade, and give him a living wage to start, even though at first he 
is not worth it, he develops into a good and loyal man. They are, 
however, like children, they have to be encouraged every so often 
by a personal talk or suggestions from the head man. 

Of course we have had our failures, but our successes have been 
in the majority, so we are continuing to break in green help. 

(Signed) Albert A. Thayer, 

Treasurer. 

LINCOLN MOTOR COMPANY 
Detroit, Mich. 

Our school is going along nicely and while we are not per¬ 
fecting machine tool operators to the degree I would like because of 
the necessity of rushing them through the school to the shop proper, 
we are accomplishing, I think, that which we set out to do, namely’ 
to take away from the girl the fear of the shop and to give her*a 
fair knowledge of the tool she is to handle. The women undoubtedly 
have benefited beyond measure by the short time spent in the 
school room, and have gone into the factory with the confidence 
that carried them through the first few days and made them 
efficiently productive in a shorter period of time. 


46 



The training room is located in the smaller of onr two plants 
and is equipped with a lathe, milling machine, gear cutter, drill 
press, profiler, etc., those being the tools upon which it was decided 
to train operators. In charge of this room was placed an instructor 
who had had some slight experience in a continuation school and 
who * went to work under the direct supervision of a high grade 
specialist secured from a well known eastern factory efficiency organi¬ 
zation. The instructor was given no special instruction beyond 
being told what we hoped to accomplish in the way of building up 
an organization of women of more than ordinary ability and moral 
character. 

The training room up to the present time has been used only in 
connection with supplying the factory with women workers. Women 
of the age of twenty-one and upwards have been taken, their ref¬ 
erences carefully examined, and they have been given from one to 
three days’ training in this school. Because of the demand of the 
shop for help it has not always been possible to keep them in a 
training room for as long a period as would seem desirable, and in 
some instances they have stayed only one day. 

During the training period they have been paid the regular 
rate for women, thirty cents per hour, which rate maintains after 
they enter the shop until such time as they are placed upon a 
piece-work basis. 

We believe, however, that through the medium of the training 
room we shall be able to instruct women workers in machine tool 
operation so they will go direct from the school room into the shop 
without fear of what is to be encountered therein, and with a better 
knowledge of the tool they are operating, and the reason they are 
operating it, than they could possibly acquire through any other 
method. 



Inspecting pistons and valves. Lincoln Motor Co. 


47 



















Machining Main Bearing Bolts. Lincoln Motor Co. 



Hand Milling Machines. Lincoln Motor Co. 

48 






















In the training department. Lincoln Motor Co. 



49 


















The school is favorably looked upon by all of the employees, 
and in those cases where it is found that a woman is not working 
out well upon the work to which the school has assigned her, and 
is returned to it for further instruction, she has in all cases gone 
back to it with a cheerfulness and willingness that is both surprising 
and gratifying. 

The writer is of the opinion that the school in this factory has 
come to stay and that when we build up our organization and get 
through the strenuous times we are now experiencing, the advantage 
of the vestibule school instruction will be given men employees as 
well as women. 

(Signed) J. M. Eaton, 

Assistant to President Henry M. Leland. 

TRAINING FOR THE TOOL ROOM 

You mention training in the more difficult lines of effort, such 
as Tool Room, Machine Shops, etc. We agree with you as to the 
wide possibilities in this field, and are now organizing to accomplish 
this very thing at the Lincoln Motor Company. 

At the . beginning of the war when labor shortage was se¬ 
riously manifested, I had charge of the reconstruction of a tool 
room, employing 270 toolmakers and machinists, engaged in the 
making of cutters, reamers, broaches, drill jigs, milling fixtures, etc. 

Realizing then the difficulty that the future held in store of 
securing competent, reliable toolmakers and machinists, we under¬ 
took to train men who had no previous experience in this line. Our 
results were quite gratifying. We classified all work and trained 
men to operate specific machines against the various classifications. 

To illustrate: We engaged a carpenter 67 years of age, who 
had no previous machine shop experience, trained him to run a 
Universal Milling Machine; not only did he meet successfully all 
work scheduled against his machine, but developed such skill in the 
operation of this machine, that later he compared favorably with 
the average good toolmaker, and in six months’ time we depended 
on him entirely to set up his own machine and proceed as a regular 
toolmaker. This represents intensive training and what was accom¬ 
plished here can be accomplished in other general lines of tool room 
work. 

We ultimately had 215 of these trained operators who were 
able to carry on the work, supported by 55 good toolmakers. I am 
with you in the confidence that it will be necessary to plan quite 
considerably in the adoption of some means to overcome a situa¬ 
tion which looks really serious for the future. 

(Signed) W. H. Ebelhare, 

General Superintendent, Lincoln Motor Co.' 


MUELLER METALS COMPANY 
Port Huron, Mich. 

I am pleased to advise you that we have been using many un 
skilled workers, also women, at both our Sarnia, Ontario and Port 
Huron, Michigan, and Decatur, Illinois, plants and find that women 


50 



are able to do the light operations on turret lathes quite satis¬ 
factorily. 

Our greatest difficulty is in our Toolmaking Department, but we 
have lately installed the following plan. 

We are selecting a good lathe hand from among our toolmakers 
and giving him from one to three students, paying him from 20 
per cent, to 30 per cent., depending on the number of students he 
is able to take care of successfully, and we then pay these students 
about 50 per cent, of what the instructor receives with stipulated 
raises in pay until they have served two years, at the end of which 
time we pay them a very liberal bonus. 

We have been able to secure some young men just out of 
High School who are going to make good workmen, but as the new 
draft will possibly take some of these boys we are now figuring 
on using women on this work and believe that they will be able 
to carry it on quite successfully. 

(Signed) C. G. Heiby, 
Vice-President and General Superintendent. 


DETROIT LUBRICATOR COMPANY 
Detroit, Michigan 

New employees are started on simple work and given individual 
instruction. They are then advanced to more difficult work. 

By this method of training we have operators giving top pro¬ 
duction who only a short time ago were automobile salesmen, cigar 
salesmen, letter carriers and watchmen. 

The women trained in this way are producing excellent results 
and are making as good pay as the men on the same piece-work. 
At some types of inspection they excel any men we ever had on 
the jobs for speed and accuracy. 

We have two men, with only one arm each! (after proper train¬ 
ing) doing more work than the average two men. 

The company has created a new department for the production 
of Liberty Motor Aeroplane Carburetors, and the work of this de¬ 
partment includes a great variety of machines. It writes: 

In order to furnish employees for this work with ,at least 
partial training, we are recruiting them from other departments in 
the shop doing similar work; in each of these other departments we 
have a section set aside which includes type machinery, and new 
employees are put at this work under careful supervision and train¬ 
ing to develop them and thoroughly determine their value before 
being advanced on to aeroplane work. 

(Signed) G. B. Duffield, 

Superintendent. 

INDEPENDENT PNEUMATIC TOOL COMPANY 
Aurora, Illinois 

Since installing our Vestibule Training School some seven 
weeks ago, we can gladly say it has proven a success, even beyond 
our expectations. 


51 




To date we have enrolled 109 students; 81 men, 28 women. 
The women workers have proven that they can in the emergency 
take the place of practically all our male workers, that is with from 
five to ten days of intensive training. We have placed women on 
such machines as Gear Hobbers, Screw Machines, Grinders, Drill 
Presses and are well satisfied with the result obtained. The per¬ 
centage of scrap material has been less by the female workers than 
by the male. 

In beginning our course of training each week our Mr. P. B. 
Hamerly, Works Manager, has made it his duty to tell these 
workers the vital need of training unskilled men and women so as 
to replace the boys-that are called from our plant, that is, he tries 
to raise them to the highest pitch of enthusiasm. 

(Signed) A. H. Boehm, 

August 16, 1918. Vestibule Training School. 



INDEPENDENT PNEUMATIC TOOL COMPANY. 


In training on regular production. 


Our training school has been running about five weeks with 
a capacity of 12 students per week. We are indeed surprised at 
the results we are getting. 

Next week we intend to put on a double dose running 
through 24 students per week. We are trying to start a night 
shift in one of our important departments and will need about 
48 or 50 men. These men are to be recruited entirely from our 
Vestibule School, where in the past we have been playing in the 
open market competing for the desired help. 

We are satisfied that if the larger corporations and manufac¬ 
turers were to install a Vestibule system in their factory that within 
the next six months the severe competition for shilled mechanics 
would be practically eliminated, and production would be increased 
considerably .' 

(Signed) F. B. Harnelly, 

Works Manager. 


52 





ROYAL TYPEWRITER CO. 
Hartford, Conn. 

Report of Training School for July, 1918 


Total entries since July 1. 100 

Total number of operations taught. 18 

Total number of permanent instructors. 6 

Instructors from other departments. 5 

Total number transferred to other departments. 73 

Total number left factory from school. 13 

Total number in school August 1, 1918. 14 


Names of Operations Taught in Training School 


Milling 

Heavy Power Press 
Copper Bar Grinding 
Brackets to Base Assembly 
Linking 

First Carriage Building Assembly 
Inspection of Base Assembly 
Drilling 


Light Power Press 
Small Parts to Base Assembly 
Shift Arms and Bottom Rails to 
Base Fitting 
Keycard Assembly 
Second Carriage Building Assembly 
Riveting (machine) 

Retapping 
Type Soldering 


General 

All students but three are women, ranging from fifteen to 
fifty-seven years of age. 

Intensified training, speed and accuracy, physical and mental 
condition of employees, proper mental attitude to company. 

A matron has been appointed who comes in contact with the 
women and is responsible for their deportment and personal needs. 

(Signed) Chas. B. Cook, 

Vice-President. 


CINCINNATI MILLING MACHINE CO. 

Cincinnati, Ohio 

We put the new employee into a department and assign him or 
her to a machine in charge of a skilled operator. The new employee 
becomes at once an observer and a helper, and in a little while takes 
charge of the machine and the skilled operator stands by and gives 
special instructions. 

We have detail instruction cards or process sheets for all opera¬ 
tions, and one of these cards in the hands of the new operator will 
serve as a guide for turning out the work properly after the 
instructor leaves the new employee to himself or herself. 

In addition to this we have certain selected engineers from the 
Time Study Department, who are attached to both the day and 
night shifts, and devote their entire time to coaching the new opera¬ 
tors, and see to it that they learn to acquire the desired degree of 
skill and proficiency. 

We find that the women who are selected for this sort of work 
just about equal the men. They show considerable enthusiasm for 


53 










the work, as is indicated by a less degree of lateness and absenteeism 
than that of the men, but we have not had enough experience as yet 
to say anything definite in this regard. 

It is also perhaps true that we are taking greater pains instruct¬ 
ing the women than we would in the ordinary course take in in¬ 
structing green men. 

(Signed) Charles S. Gingrich. 


THE STANDARD PARTS CO. 

Cleveland, Ohio 

Each individual department at the start of the year had its 
own training division, that is, while we had the orders we lacked 
a good many of the machines necessary to do our work and the 
proper tool equipment to start with. .We also required the services 
of eight hundred additional people. 

We trained absolutely unskilled men and women during this 
slack period, so that when we started in quantity production we had 
also obtained speed. An item that might be of interest to you is 
the fact that we are now employing women in Drill Presses, Milling 
Machines, Hand and Automatic Screw Machines, Turret Lathes, 
Speed Lathes, Engine Lathes, Assembly Work and Inspection Work. 



Automatic Milling Machine—Standard Parts Company. 


These women and the majority of the unskilled men whom we 
employed are doing work in most cases where dimensions are held 
to one-half thousandth of an inch limit variation. In a plant em¬ 
ploying excess of five thousand people am absolutely convinced that 
a separate vestibule training school is a necessity, and in plants 
already producing work in large quantities there is liable to be a 
heavy demand for trained skilled workers, a separate training school 
would be necessary. 

However, where the number of workers needed do not exceed 
ten people on an individual operation training on machines in the 
department would be sufficient. 

August 7, 1918. (Signed) J. A. Rothenberg, 

Employment Manager. 


54 






A skilled worker on Automatic Turret Lathe—Standard Parts Company. 


THE YALE & TOWNE MFG. CO. 

Stamford, Conn. 

We have had in operation for over a year a vestibule school 
for the training of women employees in onr plant, and are obtain¬ 
ing good results from it. 

We are training the women mostly for bench and machine 
work which was formerly done by men, such as: Lock assembling; 
drill press work, which was formerly 'considered inappropriate for 
women employees; hand screw machine and automatic screw 
machine operators. 

We are also training female help on lathe and shaper work. 
We plan to do the same thing on milling machines and expect 
eventually to include tool room work. 

Onr vestibule school activities include the training of male 
foundry workers, and the training both of men and women to 
become instructors and machine adjusters. 

We also have an Apprenticeship School. 

August 13, 1918. (Signed) The Yale & Towne Mfg. Co., 

J. A. Horner, Vice-President. 


ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS 
154 E. Erie Street, Chicago 

We are planning to have this school in operation within the 
next month. The writer expects to be responsible for the results. 
We expect to take one good man from our own plant as an instruc¬ 
tor, and we are also in communication with an instructor from a 
college in a Western State whom we may have in direct charge of 
this work should he prove to he the proper person. 

At the present time we have in our factory about 75 female 
employees, on Lathes, Milling Machines, Grinders, Finishing Gauges, 
Lapping, etc., also inspectors, timekeepers and stock chasers. 

Since your last visit we have employed a trained nurse who 
is in charge of the employment and welfare work of all women 
employed in the factory. This we have found has given us much 
better results and can truthfully say that with very few exceptions, 
every girl employed is certainly making good. 

55 






We have one instance where a man employed in the screw 
machine department, employed in that capacity for about a year, 
was haying trouble in not producing on his machine. We had him 
exchange machines with a woman who had had a month’s experi¬ 
ence and found that she practically doubled his output the first 
(Signed) J. D. Sherman, Factory Manaaer. 

August 5, 1918. 


GLEASON WORKS 
Rochester, N. Y. 

When you came to Rochester we were very much impressed 
with the suggestions you made as to the introduction of women 
into industry. We sent two representatives together with others 
from Rochester to Dayton, as you advised, to investigate the con¬ 
ditions there and also in Cincinnati. The excellent arrangements 
made by the Cincinnati manufacturers to relieve the shortage of 
labor by placing women at work in machine shops and elsewhere 
were extremely interesting. 

After learning what had been done we started using women 
in our machine shop in line with your idea and the results have 
been very satisfactory. * # * It is not a question of economy 

with us but Of releasing men for other work in the foundry which 
women cannot perform. We believe that an intensive training of 
two weeks would enable women to turn out practically as much 
work as men are now doing. 

August 5, 1918. (Signed) James E. Gleason. 

DIAMOND CHAIN AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY 
Indianapolis, Indiana 

I am sure that you will be interested in knowing that we have 
already undertaken this work. For some weeks we have had a 
school going on for the training of screw machine operators with 
every success. We also have here a man who is giving detailed 
attention to the personnel in connection with our hardening and 
cyanide work. He is talking to these men individually and in 
small groups, thus instilling into them the fundamental principles 
of heat treatment, which is making a marked impress on the char¬ 
acter of our product. 

We are also having a detailed study of the operations now 
being done by women with the idea in mind to substitute women 
where possible when it becomes necessary and we have here two 
women studying our operations preparatory to giving instructions 
to women as to how to perform the operations that men are now 
doing. 

July 25, 1918. (Signed) L. W. Wallace. 

HENRY DISSTON & SONS 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

We have 'established a school for vocational training, appoint¬ 
ing an instructor in each department who takes direct charge of 
each new employee. Through this system we have placed many 
women on work which was entirely operated by men heretofore. 

One of the delicate situations confronting us at this time is 
the transferring of help from one department to another. We are 


56 





appealing to their patriotism and have established a Disston Vol¬ 
unteer Transfer System—Industrial Soldiers Volunteering for 
Heavier Work, Filling Jobs Where Women Cannot. We are very 
much interested in this work and are making every endeavor to 
eliminate the labor turnover which we are all experiencing in 
these times. We have women operating milling machines, drill 
presses, emery grinding machines, file hardening, saw setting and 
filing machines, also power punching presses, all work never at¬ 
tempted by women in our factory before. The result has been more 
than satisfactory. 

August 7, 1918. (Signed) Wm. D. Disston, 

Vice-President. 


THE GRATON & KNIGHT MANUFACTURING COMPANY 
Worcester, Mass. 

We do not maintain a regular separate school for training the 
employees on our business because of the fact that we have such 
a large variety of trades that it would not be practical for us. 
We do, however, maintain a training system for the employees in 
our various departments and have men assigned for such work 
in the departments. 

When we have a large number of employees to train in some 
one line of work we establish a separate organization for them 
with a view to training them to carry on very efficiently and become 
skilled employees as soon as possible. 

August 7, 1918. (Signed) F. H. Willard, 

Assistant General Manager. 


THE SPARKS-WITHINGTON COMPANY 
Jackson, Mich. 

We are very glad to he able to state that we are operating a 
school especially for women to train them for toolmaking. 

We have found that there is not a sufficient number of 
experienced toolmakers to meet the demand and the only way is 
to have the women help out, and we have a school for this purpose, 
also have been teaching them to operate production machines. 

July 31, 1918. (Signed) W. J. Corbett, 

Assistant Manager. 


LOCOMOBILE COMPANY OF AMERICA 
Bridgeport, Conn. 

The writer was in Detroit a few weeks ago and was much 
interested in the work being done by Packard and Lincoln with 
women that were trained in their schools. 

We are confident that much good will result from the co¬ 
operative plan that you have adopted in developing operators. We 
wish to be considered among those who approve of this plan and 
we will arrange for a Vestibule School or Training Room as soon 
as we can do so. We have been training young men and boys from 
our local high, school as junior toolmakers, with excellent results. 

July 10, 1918. (Signed) H. H. Edge, 

Factory Manager. 


57 





THE TIMKEN ROLLER BEARING CO. 

Canton, Ohio 

We have established a Training School which has been in 
operation for the past two or three weeks. 

We do not feel as yet that we want to make any extensive 
comments upon the results secured, but we believe the idea is 
fundamentally correct, and hope to have recorded sufficient data 
of interest in regard to the school so that we will be in a position 
to answer any questions that may be asked us. 

(Signed) The Timken Roller Bearing Co., 

July 18, 1918. F. T. Mackay, Employment Manager. 


CARLTON MACHINE TOOL COMPANY 
Cincinnati, Ohio 

For your information we wish to advise that we have started 
a training school for girls in our plant, and we find that it is 
working very satisfactorily and we expect to have in the future 
50 to 75 per cent, of our work completed by girls. The writer 
has noted your talks and writings on this subject and is trying to 
follow out your ideas as near as possible. 

August 9, 1918. (Signed) Jack C. Carlton. 


THE WILLYS-MORROW COMPANY, INC. 

Elmira, N. Y. 

We have about twenty women learning how to run auto¬ 
matic screwing machines. These women have been grinding their 
own tools. 

August 7, 1918. (Signed) J. E. Morrow, 

Secretary and General Manager of Production. 


CROMPTON & KNOWLES LOOM WORKS 
Worcester, Mass. 

Our training school is working very satisfactorily, and we 
are only sorry that we did not start two years sooner. 

July 13, 1918. (Signed) H. L. Robinson, 

Employment Service Department. 


THE LODGE & SHIPLEY MACHINE TOOL CO. 

Cincinnati, Ohio 

In the Tool Room we are using men that are skilled in one 
class of work on one type of machine for the majority of our tool 
room work. 

August 2, 1918. (Signed) Joseph T. Wright, 

Assistant Works Manager. 

THE STENOTYPE COMPANY 
Indianapolis, Ind. 

We expect very shortly to have our training school in opera¬ 
tion. We are thoroughly convinced of the advisability of establish¬ 
ing such a school. 

August 16, 1918. (Signed) R. M. Bowen, 

Chairman, Board of Directors. 


58 







INTERESTING PARAGRAPHS 

Says Mr. E. G. Allen, the able Director of the Cass Technical Trade 
School, Detroit: “We have taken high grade machinists in Detroit who have 
been in the shops for a couple of years and were familiar with the use of 
drawings, decimal equivalents, etc., and made tool room machine operators 
doing work of considerable variety, each on a single type machine, almost 
immediately. In three or four months, by continuing to watch and instruct such 
a man, he has been able to run almost any machine and do on it almost any 
work laid out by the toolmaker. ” 


This war is going to last years. Even three or four months, which seems 
a long time, will pass like a day. Are some of us not almost grossly careless 
in not getting at this immediately? Mr. J. J. Pieison, Dilution Officer of the 
British Ministry of Munitions in the London District, says: “You can make 
a toolroom operator of a woman in three weeks. If you can’t do it in three 
weeks, you can’t do it at all. You have simply gotten the wrong woman. Pick 
out a long fingered, sensitive, intelligent woman from the shop force who has 
been carefully trained and is especially satisfactory and exact in her produc¬ 
tion and upgrade her in this way. ’ ’ 


11 This office has made an exhaustive study of the vestibule training methods 
and results of the Section on Industrial Training, of the Council of National 
Defense, and believes that this general immediate adoption is absolutely essential 
to meet the increased war program and cannot be too quickly or extensively 
adopted and should have the immediate and fullest support of all who are 
charged with production matters. The shortage of skilled labor to-day is alone 
two hundred and fifty thousand and we are advised will be one million by 
January 1. This office is putting it into force and effect just as promptly and 
as actively as we know how.” 

August 8, 1918. (Signed) John C. Jones, 

Chief of Ordnance, Philadelphia District, Philadelphia, Pa. 


(1 1 am confident that any community by establishing a proper school con¬ 
nected with the industries may become a great factor in the progress of the 
community’s industries. 

“We find your bulletins very useful. You are sending out a world of 
information which education ought to receive. This war ought to show us the 
wav in our schools -and give us a chance to connect up the educational wagon 
with life. ’ ’ 

August 10, 1918. (Signed) Augustus 0. Thomas, 

State Superintendent of Schools, Augusta, Maine. 


11 We are making plans to introduce training schools into all Ordnance 
Manufacturers’ plants in this district. We will endeavor to make sure that 
representatives of all the Ordnance plants in this neighborhood hear you and 
work out from the enthusiasm which no doubt your exposition will create.” 
Aug. 10, 1918. (Signed) B. A. Franklin, Major, Ord. E. C. 

Bridgeport District, Bridgeport, Conn. 


The following firms in Worcester, Mass., are using the vestibule principle 
in special efforts at training unskilled men in their shops: The Ileald 
Machine Company, Bradley Car Works, Reed Prentice Company, Sleeper & 
Hartley, Inc., Rice, Barton & Pales. 


In a large factory making power machines the men from one department 
threatened to strike because “the women were being paid higher wages than 
the men.” Investigation disclosed that all were working at the same piece 
rates but the women were producing more. 


A member of a British Commission which visited the United States last 

winter said: , _ . . n . , 

“England delayed the winning of the war two years by delaying the intro¬ 
duction of women one year. ’ ’ 


59 









PARTIAL LIST OF VESTIBULE SCHOOLS OR TRAINING 

ROOMS IN FACTORIES 

Recording and Computing Machines Co., C. U. Carpenter, C. P., Dayton, Ohio. 
Curtiss Aeroplane Corporation, P. L. Glynn, Director of Training, Buffalo, N. Y. 
Wright-Martin Aircraft Corporation, J. P. Johnson, Director of Training, New 
Brunswick, N. J., and Long Island City, N. Y. 

Nordyke & Marmon Co., Indianapolis, Ind. 

Packard Motor Car Company, Detroit, Mich. 

Lincoln Motor Company, Detroit, Mich. 

Norton Grinding Company, John C. Spence, Superintendent, Worcester, Mass. 

NOTE.—The above training rooms are remarkably efficient and successful; they 
should be seen. By special arrangement the men above named are assisting in the 
development of training rooms in their vicinity. Write them when ready to act. Also 
O. D. Evans, very expert in training, Army Ordnance Department, Production Division, 
1710 Market St., Philadelphia.) 

Gillette Safety Razor Company, Boston, Mass. 

Royal Typewriter Company, Hartford, Conn. 

Scoville Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, Conn. 

Remington Arms Company, Bridgeport, Conn. 

Bullard Engineering Company, Bridgeport, Conn. 

The H. E. Harris Engineering Company, Bridgeport, Conn. 

Trego Motor Company, New Haven, Conn. 

Winchester Repeating Arms Company, New Haven, Conn. 

Taft-Pierce Mfg. Co., Woonsocket, R. I. 

Brown & Sharpe Company, Providence, R. I. 

Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, Worcester, Mass. 

American Steel & Wire Company, Worcester, Mass. 

Norton Company, Worcester, Mass. 

John Bath & Company, Worcester, Mass. 

Graton & Knight Company, Worcester, Mass. 

Blanchard Machine Company, W. W. Blackman, Superintendent, Cambridge, Mass. 
E. W. Bliss Company (torpedo factory), Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Ford Instrument Company, New York City. 

Pierce-Arrow Company, Buffalo, N. Y. 

King Sewing Machine Company, Buffalo, N. Y. 

New York Airbrake Company, Watertown, N. Y. 

Seneca Falls Mfg. Company, Seneca Falls, N. Y. 

Savage Arms Company, Utica, N. Y. 

Henry Disston & Sons, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Fayette R. Plumb, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Hess Bright Manufacturing Company, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Roberts Filter Manufacturing Company, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Remington Arms Company, Eddystone Plant, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Naval Aircraft Factory, League Island, Philadelphia, Pa. 

American International Shipbuilding Company, Hog Island, Philadelphia, Pa. 
Newton Machine Tool Company, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Warren Webster Company, Philadelphia, Pa. 

L. H. Gilmer Company, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Burke Electric Company, Erie, Pa. 

Bethlehem Steel Company, Bethlehem, Pa. 

J. G. Brill Company, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Lanston Monotype Machine Company, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Leeds & Northrup Company, Philadelphia, Pa. 

David Lupton Sons Company, Philadelphia, Pa. 

North American Motors Company, Pottstown, Pa. 

Standard Aircraft Corporation, Elizabeth, N. J. 

Snead & Company Iron Works, Jersey City, N. J. 

Spicer Mfg. Company, Plainfield, N. J. 

International Motors Company, Plainfield, N. J. 

Woodbury Bag and Loading Company, Woodbury, N. J. 

American Shell Company, Paterson, N. J. 

Worthington Pump Company, Harrison, N. J. 

Neptune Meter Company, Hoboken, N. J. 

International Arms and Fuse Company, Bloomfield, N. J. 

Thomas A. Edison Corp., Orange, N. J. 

General Electric Company, Newark, N. J. 

Crocker-Wheeler Company, Ampere, N. J. 

Submarine Boat Corp., Newark, N. J. 

60 


Barbour Flax Spinning Company, Paterson, N. J. 

American Tool Works Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Lodge & Shipley Machine Tool Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Cincinnati Milling Machine Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Cincinnati Grinder Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Cincinnati Planer Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Cincinnati Bickford Tool Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Oakley Machine Tool Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Buckeye Twist Drill Company, Alliance, Ohio. 

Morgan Engineering Company, Alliance, Ohio. 

National Cash Register Company, Dayton, Ohio. 

Ohmer Fare Register Company, Dayton, Ohio. 

The Timken Roller Bearing Company, Canton, Ohio. 

Joseph & Feiss Company, May Thomsen, Employment Department, Cleveland, O. 
Mosler Safe Company, Hamilton, Ohio. 

Ford Motor Company, Detroit. 

Long Manufacturing Company, Detroit. 

Studebaker Corporation, Detroit. 

Solvay Process Company, Detroit. 

Morgan & Wright Company, Detroit. 

Detroit Steel Products Company, Detroit. 

Burroughs Adding Machine Company, Detroit. 

Dodge Brothers, Detroit. 

Detroit Lubricator Company, Detroit. 

Timken Detroit Axle Company, Detroit. 

Haskellite Mfg. Company, Grand Rapids, Mich. 

Republic Motor Truck Company, Alma, Mich. 

Sparks-Withington Company, Jackson, Mich. 

Illionis Tool Works, Chicago, Ill. 

Union Special Machines Company, Chicago, Ill. 

Western Cartridge Company, East Alton, Ill. 

Independent Pneumatic Tool Company, Aurora, Ill. 

Diamond Chain & Manufacturing Company, L. W. Wallace, Indianapolis, Ind. 
General Electric Company, E. H. Barnes, Superintendent, Fort Wayne, Ind. 
Pawling & Harnischfeger Company, Milwaukee, Wis. 


EXTRACT FROM A REPORT BY MR. BEN IT. MORGAN, 

EXPERT ADVISER TO THE DILUTION SECTION OF 
THE BRITISH MINISTRY OF MUNITIONS 

When war broke out in August, 1914, the Government of the 
day urged employers to induce their skilled as well as unskilled 
men to join the colors. No good purpose will he served in my 
characterizing in suitable terms the unwisdom of such a step. Suffi¬ 
cient to say that it was a long time later before the Government 
realized that this was an Engineers’ war. The result was*that the 
men with initiative, education and skill were among the first to 
lay aside their tools and join the colors. This was a stroke of 
such folly that it took the country quite a long time to recover 
from it. Not only had we lost men of brain and initiative but also 
a large proportion of the skill for carrying on a war in which 
machinery and munitions were a preponderating factor. 

When the sudden call came for an enormous increase in guns 
and ammunition the folly of the step that had been taken was real¬ 
ized and arrangements were made to effect the return of a number 
of skilled men from the colors. This, however, was difficult to 
carry out, and on top of it came the realization that if every skilled 
man were returned we had not sufficient to produce the munitions 
essential to success. 

It was in these circumstances that the present Prime Minister, 
Mr. Lloyd George, then Minister of Munitions, laid down the 


61 



principle that no man must perform any work that could be effi¬ 
ciently performed by women. He foresaw that every man would 
be required for essentially man’s work. This involved the process 
which has become known as the Dilution of Labor. This dilution 
implies that: 

(1) The employment of skilled men should be confined to work 
which cannot be efficiently performed by less skilled labor 
or by women. 

(2) Semi-skilled and unskilled men should be employed on any 
work which does not necessitate the employment of skilled 
men and for which women are unsuitable. 

(3) Women should be employed as far as practicable on all 
classes of work for which they are suitable. 

This, at first sight, seems a simple arrangement, but I need not 
tell you that it is a complicated one and involves expenditure of 
time, patience and money on the part of the employers and sympa¬ 
thetic co-operation on the part of the skilled employees. Women 
have to receive careful training, intervening hands in the processes 
of production have to be upgraded and the skill in the factory has 
to be spread over a large area, usually necessitating more super¬ 
vision and care if equal results are to be obtained. These are 
average conditions, but in a large number of cases the changes due 
to the introduction of women have resulted in considerably increased 
outputs over men’s records, and this not only on light repetition 
work, but on heavy turning and laboring work and skilled and 
semi-skilled non-repetition work. 

The patriotism shown by the employers in meeting the numerous 
difficulties which confronted them in training women for every con¬ 
ceivable kind of work, in reorganizing their factories for new pro¬ 
ductions by new labor, adapting their machinery to the measure of 
skill and strength available to work them has been one of the most 
inspiriting experiences of the war. Women have been trained in an 
incredibly short time, handling appliances of all kinds have been 
installed, special tools and gauges have had to be made and often 
when a work has been set fairly going and was reaching full pro¬ 
duction, a change in the country’s needs for munitions compelled 
the Ministry to alter a design or a size or to put a firm on to a 
completely new product, and again the whole process of retaining 
employees and adapting tools and plant had to be gone through. 

If the employer has done well for the. country, so, on the other 
hand, no finer example of patriotism has been shown by any class 
than by the artisan as a whole. On an appeal being made to the 
Trades Unions soon after the outbreak of the war these Unions 
without a single exception agreed to do what the national interests 
required. A network of Trades Union rules and regulations, 
usages and customs, the result of many years of activity by organized 
labor, were freely set aside to allow for the introduction of women 
in nearly every class of work, subject to reasonable conditions. 

Whatever some employers may think this was a gigantic sac¬ 
rifice to make. It involved wages, hours, overtime, night work, 
Sunday work, meal times, holidays, shop regulations and demar¬ 
cation arrangements, restriction of output, preparations of appren¬ 
tices and classes of employees to be engaged, etc., etc. This structure 
of Trade Unionism the workingman agreed should be swept away 


62 


to allow of the production of the maximum amount of munitions 
by the readiest methods and by any character of labor that was 
available male or female—on the condition that the structure 
should be replaced at the close of the war. 

This is splendid patriotism and when you add to the sacrifice 
of Trades Union Rules the burden, such as has fallen principally 
on the Trades Union men, of training the hundreds of thousands of 
women to do their work, this must increase our debt of appreciation 
and gratitude. It is only by the loyal co-operation of employer and 
employed that we are in the satisfactory position as regards muni¬ 
tions that we are to-day. 

By the process of dilution we have been able to place in muni¬ 
tion works about 950,000 women to do work from the heaviest 
laboring unskilled operation to the highest grade of tool-room non¬ 
repetition work. I do not hesitate to say that women have entirely 
destroyed our pre-war ideas as to what constitutes “skilled” work. 
When in the early days of the war women were trained to turn 
out 18 pdr. H. E. shell and equal the production of male labor many 
thought that such work, amounting as it does to little more than 
manipulative dexterity, was about the limit of the capacity of 
women who had not received a regular course of Engineering train- 
ing. After a few months’ workshop experience, however, women are 
to-day building the greater part of one of the best High-Speed 
Engines in the country, each woman setting her own tools and 
work, and able to machine any piece of work that the tool she is 
on will take. Women are building guns, including the fine fitting 
work on the breech mechanism, and the cutting of large screw 
threads up to a shoulder. They are doing most of the work in 
some shops on three and one-half ton Army Lorries and will do 
practically the whole of it if the war lasts much longer, including 
chassis erection and testing. They are doing important work in 
marine engine building, turning connecting rods, propeller shaft 
liners and doing practically all in some cases of the marked-off 
drilling. The Aero Engine, as you well know, is a very fine piece of 
mechanism and at the outset was considered a tool room job through¬ 
out. In some shops women are to-day doing the greater part of the 
work turning on Centre Lathes to half a thousandth, milling webs 
of Clerget Cylinders on a booker Miller without stops and setting 
up their own jobs and working again to half a thousandth limit, 
boring cylinders on a No. 9 Herbert and similar work on a Gishlet, 
setting up their own jobs, turning and finishing test pieces in various 
metals to a 5,000th; making tools and gauges of all kinds to fine 
limits; all varieties of bench fitting to drawings and marking-off 
work of every description. Locomotive work, steel constructional 
work, boilers, bending, drilling and riveting. Women are doing 
magnificent work both in regard to accuracy and output. 

On shells of all nature women should, of course, be principally 
employed. Contracts for shell will only be renewed and continued 
after March 31st next (1917) with those firms who employ 80 
per cent, of female labor on shell of sizes from 2.75" to 4.5" inclusive. 
On larger sizes of shell, contracts will only be renewed if the Ministry 
of Munitions’ instructions in regard to dilution have been carried 
out, not only in regard to the proportion of women to be employed 
in each factory but the proportions of semi-skilled men. 


63 


library of congress 


0 002 209 133 5 


“The employer and employee have a mutual—not 
identical—interest in procuring the largest possible pro¬ 
duction from a given amount of labor.”-—Hon. Wm. 
B. Wilson, Secretary of Labor. (Address before Cham¬ 
ber of Commerce of U. S. A., September 20, 1917.) 


“The factory, like the trench, is a post of combat. 
The duty is not to abandon it before the enemy. My 
compliments to your Union for having understood it 
so well.”—Marshal Foch. (Cablegram August 12th to 
the International Typographical Union, in convention at 
Scranton, Pa.) 





























































